At Times Like These
by Wheels4TheOneTrueGod
Summary: Rapunzel and Eugene are now offically husband and wife. But when her daughter is born with her ability to heal, will she be protected from evil? And the adventure only begins from there! Summary sucks. Better inside, Promise! Please read & REVIEW!
1. Getting to know You

"Do you, Eugene Fitzherbert, take Princess Rapunzel to be your lawfully wedded wife, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, till death do you part?"

Eugene smiled, "I do." Rapunzel's heart skipped a beat at those two words.

"And do you, Princess Rapunzel-"

"I do, I do, I do!"

A flabbergasted priest stood with his Bible open, in front of the couple, and a shocked expression was plastered on his face and with his mouth agape, he blinked… _twice_! Eugene simply shrugged, leaned in and whispered to him, "Just go with it."

The priest smiled. "Then I now pronounce you, husband and wife. And to all the witnesses here, your lovely Princess Rapunzel Fitzherbert, and your new prince consort, Eugene Fitzherbert. You may now kiss your bride."

Rapunzel stopped hopping, jumped up and threw her arms around Eugene's neck, pulling him into a passionate lip-lock. The kiss lasted about five minutes, but for the newlyweds it seemed like an instant.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"I can't believe we're married!" Eugene sighed happily, as he poured some bubbly beverage into two crystal champagne glasses.

"How long have we waited for this?" Rapunzel tossed out outfit after outfit.

"I don't know about you, but I waited years and years – and then you _finally_ said 'yes'!"

"But that was because you were asking as the wrong person. I didn't want to marry Flynn Rider. I wanted to marry you… Eugene Fitzherbert." She came out of the big walk-in closet, wearing nothing but a transparent robe and a sexy one-piece undergarment.

"Wow!" Eugene blinked at the beauty before him. "You look absolutely stunning!"

The twenty-one-year-old woman sat down on her side of the king-sized bed. She blushed as she saw Eugene's chest for the first time. But she quickly wrapped her arms around his bare chest and began traveling north with her finger until she found his lips. She brushed her lips against his and he pulled her small frame down upon him and deepened the kiss. Then he slowly, yet, subtly turned around and was on top of her. He frantically tried to get his trousers off, at the same time trying to disrobe his wife.

"Eugene," Rapunzel broke away from the kiss. "Is this going to hurt?"

Eugene grinned. "It can, but only if you want it to."

And they came to know each other in a whole new way… biblically! They had made love ten different times in ten different ways that night.


	2. And baby makes Three

The weeks passed quickly for the new couple. But on the sixth week things were a bit crazy. Rapunzel did not want to get out of bed, even though, she bragged about how she used to get up every day at seven when she was in the tower. Things hadn't changed much. But when she didn't get out of bed until eleven o'clock that morning, Eugene began to get worried. She'd missed breakfast and nearly missed lunch. Eugene was usually the one to get out of bed late, and Rapunzel was always pulling him by the ankles to get up.

The two couples, Eugene and Rapunzel as well as the King and Queen, were together in the dining hall. Rapunzel was poking at her uneaten meat, and everyone noticed.

"What's the matter, dear? Is the ham not to your liking?" asked Queen Elizabeth.

"No, it's not that," Rapunzel admitted. "I just don't have that much of an appetite." In all truth, she was sick to her stomach.

"Blondie," using his signature nickname for Rapunzel, Eugene tried to understand. "That's the third time in two weeks! What's going on?"

"I don't know, but that's why I'm going to see Dr. Miller, to see if she can't help me get to the bottom of this!" She pushed her plate away from her and scooted the heavy mahogany chair back from the table. "If you'll please excuse me," she stood up and wiped her mouth, discarding the napkin on the table, "I've a doctor to see."

"Of course, just be careful, darling!" called King Peter.

"I will!" Rapunzel called over her shoulder. The princess began to walk the maze of hallways and corridors, taking a right, followed by a left, another right, and two lefts. Soon she found the doctor's door. Turning the brass knob, Rapunzel found herself in an examination room.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Excuse me, your majesty's, but I've got a wife to find." I guess you could say that curiosity got the better of the ex-thief.

"Of course, Eugene. Would you like me to walk you down to Dr. Miller's office?" the queen offered. "The hallways can be quite misleading if you don't know your way."

"Thank you, your highness," and Eugene took Elizabeth's arm in his as they strode out of the banquet hall and towards the doctor's office.

Suddenly, a guard came into the banquet hall and delivered a note to the king.

"Thank you, Reginald," the king tore open the envelope and began to read.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"What seems to be bothering you, Princess?"

"Rapunzel. And, well, I've missed something very important."

"If it's your crown again, I can assure you, it's safe. Right atop your beautiful head."

"No, no, it's not that! It's more along the lines of…" the princess looked to her right then to her left, making sure that no one else could hear… not even Pascal, had he been with her. She leaned toward the doctor and whispered, "bleeding."

"And how long have you not been, you know, when you should have been?"

"Two weeks." As soon as she saw the doctor's jaw drop, she knew she was in for a lecture. "I know, I know I should've come to you sooner, but I was just scared."

The doctor smiled. "There's no need to be scared. Excited is more like it."

"Why?"

"Why! Because you're pregnant!" Rapunzel had an unknowing look on her face, so Dr. Miller put it in simpler terms. "You're going to have a baby."

"Oh." The princess remarked, stood up, and fainted.


	3. News

Eugene slowly made his way to the doctor's office, when he spotted his wife's figure on the floor. The former thief let go of the queen's arm and rushed to his princess's side. The queen was beside herself with grief.

"Rapunzel!" he tried slapping her cheeks gently to get a response. "What happened?" Eugene shot an accusatory glance at the doctor.

"She fainted. I guess the news was too much to handle."

The queen joined Eugene on the floor, not sure where to put her hands. She, finally, put them up to her lips. "Oh, my precious girl."

"What news?" Eugene got to his feet.

"The princess is… well, she should tell you."

"I have a right to know what's going on with my wife!" He thundered.

"Yes, you're right about that, but I believe this is the kind of news she would want to tell you yourself."

"It's not her health, is it?" Eugene prodded.

"Not the bad kind."

"What other kind is there?"

"You'll find out, Prince Fitzherbert." The doctor turned and entered her laboratory.

Eugene got to his knees and scooped Rapunzel up in his arms. The queen held onto her daughter's head as Prince Fitzherbert arranged her head in his arms. "Here we go, Blondie. You're safe now," he whispered into her now shoulder-length brown hair. Eugene headed up to their chambers and laid the beauty on the unmade bed. He proceeded to cover her up, and lay down beside her.

Rapunzel turned and wrapped her arm around her husband, breathing in his musky scent. He smelled of outdoors and adventure.

Eugene could care less. The ex-thief loved the feel of his love on him. They stayed like that for nearly an hour.

Just then, there came a knock at the door. "Enter," Eugene called. After hearing their majesty's use it so many times, he figured it was best if he, the prince, started using it.

"Ah, Prince-," the king started.

"Shh! She's sleeping."

"Oh, I see. Anyway, can I see you outside?" He added in a low-voice. Eugene carefully got up and followed the king outside; making sure that the door was firmly closed behind him.

"Is there anything I can help you with, your majesty?"

The king sighed, "Son, I know how important you are to my daughter. Before you two were officially engaged, her mother and I sent out a letter to several neighboring kingdoms, asking if princes would come take her hand in marriage." He held out the note. "This is a response from Ramona, stating that prince Barone will be more than happy to see our daughter married to him. And we are obliged to keep our word. I'm sorry."

"No! I will not let you rip Rapunzel away from me! She's my world! I died for her once and will do it again, so long as she remains with me!"

Rapunzel awoke to the noise. She came to the door and opened it, cringing when Eugene mentioned 'died'. "What's going on?"

"Just a little discussion that-"

"Your father's trying to tear us away from each other!"

"Daddy, is this true?"

"I'm afraid so." The king handed her the note.

"Daddy, no! I don't want to be with someone else! I want to be with Eugene!" That statement made Eugene's heart soar. He felt like sticking his tongue out at the king, but kept his tongue in check.

"Dearest," he sighed again; this time in defeat. "I know what you want, but the fact of the matter is you must marry prince Barone. The only way to put an end to this, is if you were already with child."

"If it's a child you want… then a child you will get! Come on, Rapunzel!" And the former thief headed back into their room, with his wife at hand.

"It may not be that easy, Prince Fitzherbert." He turned a hand to Eugene's retreating form.

"Daddy, I am!"


	4. Fainting

**What! No reviews? I'm very disappointed in you people! But, *sigh* nevertheless, here's chapter 4. This chapter I'm looking for _ten_ reviews or more. You just have to click that centered button at the end of the page. It really does NOT hurt. Oh, well... On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Tangled. However, I DO own the DVD, soundtrack, a Rapunzel and Flynn Rider doll.**

"You are?" both men exclaimed at the same time, only in two different tones.

"Yes!" Turning toward her husband, she offered lovingly, "Yes, Eugene, I'm pregnant. It's now how I would've wanted to tell you, but at least we saved our marriage."

Eugene promptly collapsed onto the cold, decorated, marble flooring.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel wailed. Kneeling on the hard, sun-covered floor, the princess slapped Eugene's cheeks. "You know, Daddy, there were plenty of other ways in which I could have broken the news to him."

"Well, why didn't you?"

She turned, brought her knee out, resting her cheek atop it and glowered at her father. "I didn't have much of a choice, now, did I?" Turning her face back to the former thief, she diverted all her attention on Eugene. His face was pale and his skin was clammy.

"No, I guess you didn't."

"To save my marriage I had to come right out and say it." she put her hand under her husband's nose. No air was coming out! She started to panic, until she saw Eugene's chest move up and down in one fluid motion. "Oh, Eugene! You scared me!" She exhaled a sigh of relief, while she slapped her hands to her legs, which were still in a kneeling position.

The king decided to retreat and let the lovebirds' be.

Eugene's eyes fluttered open, the color returned to his face, and his skin became dry. The ex-thief seemed like a whole new man. He reached up and pulled her face down, scowling. "How long have you known?" He growled.

"Well, um, I, uh-" She stuttered.

"How long?" He demanded, pushing her off of him, sitting up.

"Remember when I went to the doctor's? That's when I found out." She admitted, placing a hand on her still flat stomach.

"You've only known about your pregnancy in that short amount of time?" He questioned.

"Yes, Dr. Miller confirmed it."

"How far along are you?"

"I guess about," she blushed, "six weeks."

He fainted again.

"Eugene, oh, Eugene! Please! Please come back to me! Eugene!"

At the voice of their princess, five guards, plus the captain, came rushing toward her panicked voice.

"Princess!"

"Are you alright?"

"Is there anything we can do for you, your highness?"

"What happened to Prince Fitzherbert?" came all the responses at once.

"He fainted. Can you, please, get him into bed?"

"Fainted? Humph." The captain grunted. "Not very manly."

"Please, just get him in bed. He's had quite a shock."

The six guards picked up Eugene's limp body from the floor, and easily carried him into his and the princess's chambers where they discarded the body onto the bed.

"Thank you," Rapunzel said.

The guards simply bowed and shut the door on their way out.

Rapunzel threw herself onto the bed. She sang her healing incantation.

"_Flower, gleam and glow_

_Let your power shine_

_Make the clock reverse_

_Bring back what once was mine._

_Heal what has been hurt_

_Change the Fates' design_

_Save what has been lost_

_Bring back what once was mine_

_What once was mine._"

When her song didn't bring Eugene out of it, she resorted to getting Pascal. The princess turned toward one of the bed posts, and picked up the little chameleon. She picked up the lizard, brought him near Eugene and placed Pascal next to his ear. "Okay, Pascal. Do your job."

Pascal nodded and squeaked. He stuck his tongue in Eugene's ear. The former thief immediately sat up, rubbing his ear on his shoulder.

"Yikes!" he exclaimed, then snapped at Pascal, "I'm still not fond of that, frog!"

"He's a chameleon, Eugene," Rapunzel reminded him.

"Nuance," Eugene replied.

Rapunzel giggled, despite her husband's violent face.

"Who's the father?"

The princess smacked Eugene across the arm. "You are, silly!"

"Ow! You're getting strong there, Blondie! But, seriously, we've only been married six weeks and had never made love until that night, so, who is it?"

"You, Eugene! I've never known anyone else in that way!"

"So… you became pregnant on our honeymoon?" Eugene asked, enthusiastically.

Rapunzel hesitated, then nodded in approval. "Uh-huh."

"Wow," he sighed. "You did a good job, little Eugene." He said, eyeing his crotch area.


	5. Methods

Rapunzel giggled, "Little Eugene?" Pascal joined in her laughter, making Eugene blush.

"Yeah." He said in mock confidence. "And what do you call yours?"

"What the medical books call it." She refused to say 'vagina.'

"You have no imagination whatsoever!"

"And you have way too much!" The princess ruffled his hair, as her giggles ceased.

"Just think," he held his wife at his side. "In a few months, we're going to be parents!" Realization hit him... hard. "I'm going to be a…"

"Father?" Rapunzel offered to her shaken husband.

He got up and paced around the room. Eyes massive in size and his face ashen, he sat down in a loveseat. "A father! Gosh! I don't even know how to be a father! I never knew mine,"

"Oh, Eugene,"

"I mean, what if I'm no good at it? What if he doesn't like me? What if…" Eugene babbled

"Eugene, you will be a terrific father. And what makes you so sure that this baby is going to be a boy? I think it just might turn out to be a girl."

"Well, if you're right and the baby is a girl, we've got to keep her away from guys like me. If I'm right and the baby is a boy, let's just say, I've got my work cut out for me,"

"Why?" Rapunzel wondered.

"Why? Oh, that… that hurts, Blondie!" he feigned a knife through his heart. "Because, someone will have to teach him the legendary smolder!" Climbing back into bed beside his wife, he thought aloud, "He'll have my smile, which of course, is the whole reason behind the smolder, my strong chin, my alarmingly sexy-"

"Wait, who's having this baby? You or me?" Rapunzel retorted. Apparently, mood swings had kicked in.

"You are, sweetheart."

"Then give it some of my traits too."

"Okay. Hmm, let's see. He'll have your eyes. No use letting that tradition go to waste."

"She, Eugene. I'm sure it's a girl,"

"Well, let's find out then, shall we?"

"How?"

"I'm sure there are some methods that the doctors used when your mother was pregnant with you. I'll just ask Dr. Miller what they are, okay?"

"Go on, then."

"What? Now?"

"Yes, now. I want to get this issue resolved before we go any further."

So, Eugene walked down to Dr. Miller's office. Their conversation lasted about five minutes.

"So, um, Dr. Miller, uh, Rapunzel and I were wondering, um, if there was any way to determine the baby's sex."

"Is that a question, Prince Fitzherbert, or a statement?"

"Both, actually."

"Well, Prince Fitzherbert, there is one way to determine whether it is a boy or girl. I'm not sure how reliable the method may be, but it's worth a shot."

"Lay it on me," Eugene commanded. "I'm all ears."

"Well," Dr. Miller began, "When she's beginning to show, if she's carrying up high, it's a girl. If down low, then it's a boy."

Eugene seemed content with the doctor's answer and stood up, arms outstretched before him, clapping his hands together. He then rejoined his wife upstairs in their room.

Rapunzel had just gotten out of the shower and changed from her light pink dress into a simple lavender nightgown which showed off her curves. She ran over to her side of the bed, laid down and promptly covered up. As soon as Eugene got into bed, she snuggled up against him, breathing in the sweet scent that was Eugene Fitzherbert.


	6. War

A few weeks had passed and Rapunzel was in her third month; and starting to show a bit. She had mood swings, and was always craving green apples and cheese, wrapped together. The juicy emerald apples had to be sliced and the cheese wrapped around the slice at least twice. She wouldn't eat it any other way. Eugene had been called into her father's office for an urgent meeting on behalf of the Kingdom of Asher.

Eugene had just left the king's study with news that was sure to put Rapunzel over the edge. The former thief didn't want to be the one to deliver the message, but he had no other choice.

Rapunzel was still asleep and Prince Fitzherbert was thankful when he saw that his wife wasn't awake. He got into bed, removing his boots, and settled in for a nice nap with his princess, but he was restless, and needed to pack. As he was doing so, Rapunzel awoke to find him on the ground filling his satchel.

"Eugene, what are you doing?"

"Packing." Was his simple answer.

Rapunzel broke down in uncontrollable sobs. "Are you leaving me?"

Eugene immediately froze. "Rapunzel, of course I'm not leaving you. At least not in the way you're thinking."

"What do you mean 'not in the way I'm thinking'?" Rapunzel snapped.

"I mean there's a war in Asher and I've been summoned to fight."

"Eugene," Rapunzel shrieked, "please! Don't go! What if the baby comes while you're away? What am I going to do? What if you get hurt, or worse, die?" This brought a whole new set of fresh moisture to her eyes.

"Blondie, you'll be fine on your own. You're stronger than you think. You lived in that tower for eighteen years, and finally broke free. I'd say that's an accomplishment. As far as me getting hurt or dying," he gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, "well, we still have your healing tears, right?"

"I guess. But I was by myself; I didn't have a child to care for. And what if my tears don't work this time?"

"And what makes you think your mother won't help you out, and, we'll deal with that when we come to it, okay?"

"I don't want this baby to come unless you're here!" She grabbed for his vest and started crying into his shirt.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Rapunzel, shh," he began rubbing comforting circles on her back and offering soothing words to her.

"But we haven't even chosen names yet," Rapunzel whined.

"Okay, I like Thaddeus, Michael, Archimedes, and Cornelius."

"And what if it's a girl?"

Eugene just turned, shrugged and continued stuffing his satchel. "That will be your department."

"But we need to decide together." Rapunzel countered.

"Chailyn, Irina, Ronaele, Peyton, Clio, Amelia, Tavia, Muriel, Aquanetta, Take your pick."

All of those names resulted in the same way; Rapunzel stuck out her tongue giving her obvious disapproval. "I like Annaliese,"

"Hmm," Eugene pondered. "Annaliese Fitzherbert. Nice."

Rapunzel smiled and said, "And we can call her 'Anna' for short."

"And if it's a boy we can name it either Peter, after your father, or-"

"Michael! Okay,"

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'd better be going."

"So soon?"

"We have to get there by daybreak," Eugene explained.

A tear fell from Rapunzel's dark lashes and Eugene was quick to wipe it away with his thumb. He swiftly brushed his lips against hers and the princess pulled the ex-thief's vest closer to her and deepened the kiss. "Promise me, Eugene, that you'll come back to me. Promise me that you'll be here for the birth of our baby."

"Rapunzel, I can't promise that. There's no guarantee that I won't -"

The princess put a finger up to her husband's chapped lips. "Just promise me."

"I promise,"

"Don't forget me, Eugene."

"There's no chance of that happening. Especially with that kiss. Wow! What a sendoff!" He repelled from their balcony onto the castle grounds below. "Write me, Blondie! I love you, both!" He shouted up towards the terrace, and with that, Eugene Fitzherbert was gone.


	7. Notes

A month had passed slowly for Rapunzel. She was in her second trimester and the nights were plagued by nightmares. One night in particular, the princess got out of bed, being roused from her sleep by a terrible dream, and began to pen a note to Eugene, whom she missed tremendously.

_Dearest Eugene,_

_I'm beginning to show more each and every day. I'm carrying up high, so I guess that means we're going to have a little girl, right? I can't begin to describe the ache in my heart from not seeing, holding, or touching you. I miss you so very much. I can't wait until you return home _safely _and run into my arms. I will suffocate you with tender kisses, unless you're hurt, which you _won't_ be. And then these nightmares of mine will cease. I only have Pascal to talk to about them and, even though I love him, it doesn't bring me the comfort you do when I have nightmares. Till then, enclosed is a portrait that the royal painter did of me. You can see how big I've gotten since you were last here. We will finally be a family, and you'll get to hold your daughter in your arms. And, as always, I love you more than words can express._

_ Your faithful loving wife,_

_ Rapunzel _

The princess counted down the days until she received a letter back from Eugene, which had been nearly ninety-nine total count days and was in her seventh month. She had passed the time by knitting two pairs of baby booties. She had often come to the queen with questions.

"Mom, how long does war last?" She absentmindedly put her hand on top of her, now, protruding stomach.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know you miss Eugene, and with good reason, too." The queen squeezed the hand atop her enlarged belly. "But war can last up to decades. Let's just pray that the conflict between Corona and Asher are resolved quickly."

"Excuse me, Princess, but we found this letter on the battlefield addressed to you."

"Thank you," Rapunzel dashed up to her quarters to read the note.

_My dear and lovely Rapunzel,_

_ I can see, in the portrait you sent me, the progress Anna is making. Has it been so long that I've been away? My heart tells me it's true, but my brain is having trouble comprehending that thought. You are still as beautiful as ever, my love. I feel horrible that you're having nightmares without my help to ease your troubled mind with only a frog for comfort. I can't wait till I return home and your kisses heal my battered body. Not that I'm, in any way, hurt. The war is almost over and I can smell victory for Corona. You are constantly on my mind, and in my heart. Rapunzel, I just want to tell you that _

She looked right and left. "Where's the rest of it?" Rapunzel wondered aloud. She searched high and low for the rest of the letter. Then the princess noticed Pascal chewing on something. "Have you seen it, Pascal?"

The chameleon stopped chewing, and shook his head.

"Open up," Rapunzel commanded.

The lizard did so and the princess discovered that he was only chewing on a leaf.

"Pascal, I get the feeling that Eugene is in trouble." The chameleon hopped into her hands. "Go find Maximus and tell him that I need him to travel to the kingdom of Asher and help Eugene."

She let him down, and he jumped out of her hands, scampered across the room, and down to the stables. Rapunzel could only guess what Pascal was up to. She got up from her desk and wandered out onto the balcony. Only when she saw a flash of white disappear into the evening did she exhale a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Pascal scurried back onto the balcony. He was panting, the poor thing. "Thank you, Pascal," Rapunzel purred into his tiny chameleon ears.


	8. Finding Eugene

The white horse ran into the dense foliage of a faraway forest. He'd been running for seventeen hours straight and was beginning to hunger for some apples or anything that would satisfy his growling stomach. The stallion came to a quick trot, to which he stopped by a stream to drink and rest a bit. He was in Asher, that much was for certain, and the bloodhound in him had kicked in. As Maximus was chewing on a patch of grass, his ears perked up. The horse thought he heard something like a twig snap. Could that be Eugene? He put his muzzle to the ground and began sniffing. A-ha! He neighed, happily. He'd gotten it; Eugene's scent! It wouldn't be long now! The white stallion broke into a full gallop.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel's night was filled with dreams of Eugene. At first, she dreamt that her husband had come through the door,

"_Hey, miss me, Blondie?" Eugene asked._

"_Eugene!" Rapunzel squealed, ran him down and smothered him in passionate pecks. Between kisses, she stated, "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back!"_

But, she simply awoke on his side of the bed, kissing her husband's pillow, breathing in his aroma that still lingered on his section of the mattress, water welling up in her emerald eyes, threatening to spill over her long lashes. The princess had to come to terms with it; it was going to be a _long_ few nights.

She, then, looked at her wedding ring. Eugene had promised to put the final diamond into it when they were married; a promise that he kept.

"_Oh, what a pretty flower," Rapunzel had remarked._

"_It's not a flower, Blondie; it's the Coronian emblem," Eugene had corrected her. The small sun set into her yellow-gold ring shone off beautifully in the real sun, even though it was setting._

She could see it now. But seven months ago, she was blind to it.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Maximus continued his search for Eugene, throughout the night and into the morning. He finally came to an abandoned shack. There was a rusted lock over the handle. As the horse prepared to buck the door down, Justyn Time, a lieutenant in the Asheran army, walked out and came face to hooves with Maximus, when the stallion bucked his hind legs. Maximus had just killed two birds with a single stone! He trotted inside the abandoned shack to find Eugene bound to a wooden pole in the corner of the room. The former thief was hunched over and Maximus did what he could to get Eugene's chin up. Fortunately, after a few small bumps, Eugene's head lolled back. The horse whinnied in alarm seeing blood trickle down the ex-thief's neck. But when Eugene's eyes fluttered open, Maximus gave a nicker to show the man that he cared for him and was glad to find him… alive!

Eugene could scarcely speak. "Max?" He coughed several times, spatting blood onto the wall. Maximus bit through the ex-con's ropes and freed the man. Eugene wiped the blood from his neck with a dirty cloth, "Okay, Max, time to go home." He patted the stallion's flank as the horse broke into another full and fast gallop.


	9. Goodbye, Eugene

Rapunzel dejectedly got out of bed, descended the stairs and entered the banquet hall. Everyone was staring at her, because she hadn't changed out of her night clothes, but the princess didn't care. She stirred her soup, countless times, knowing full-well if Eugene had been alive he'd be home by now.

"Aren't you going to eat your soup, dear?" The queen asked her daughter.

"I'm not too hungry." She lied. In fact, she was starving! She hadn't eaten anything in days, and her mother could hear her stomach growl from across the table.

The king had returned home from the war, but was wounded badly. So he had been placed in the sickbay, until his injuries were healed. Rapunzel had pressed him for information on Eugene, but to her dismay, the king knew nothing.

"May I be excused?" Rapunzel asked her mother, her emerald eyes glistening with moisture in the light. She didn't even wait for permission. The princess simply got up and tore through the halls, tears streaming down her freckled face, hands up to her eyes, until she reached her chambers. There, she allowed the tears to come without ceasing, as she threw herself upon their bed.

Only when Pascal had hopped down from his little bed on the bedpost, came up next to the princess's hand and began stroking it with one of his front appendages, did she begin to wail.

"He's dead, Pascal! Eugene is dead!" Pascal turned a blue hue to match her mood. She sat up and sniffed. "Pascal, thank you,"

Pascal chirped.

"For what! For being there for me through all of this. Through Eugene's death," she picked up a paintbrush and started a small painting of their goodbye's to each other, "through my pregnancy,"

Pascal's ears perked up. He heard the faint, yet familiar, galloping and a neighing of a horse. It had to be Maximus!

"And you'll, ultimately, be there for the birth of our…" she caught herself, additional tears beginning to well up in her huge eyes. "My daughter." She put the finishing touches on her painting, until she realized what she had portrayed. "Eu… Eugene won't be here for that momentous event." She stated sadly to herself. Just then, she flecked out the portrait of her and Eugene's final farewell's. The princess could not stand to be reminded of it.

"I can't sleep in here anymore, Pascal!" Rapunzel exploded. "Everywhere I look, it's like a reminder that Eugene is no longer with me! And that smell, _his_ smell, is still on the bed! Whenever I roll over, I inhale that sweet aroma that is no longer Eugene! So, I've made up my mind. I'm moving back into my old room!" She packed her clothes, shoes, jewelry, tiara, pajamas, and her perfumes into a bag and set off for her single bedroom. She fingered her wedding ring, and, tearfully, decided to discard it in the trash.

With one last look around the place, she whispered, "goodbye Eugene. Remember that I'll always love you."

She held out her arm for Pascal to dash onto, who scampered up next to her neck, walked out of the chambers, closing the door firmly behind her and locking it. Rapunzel never wanted to visit those painful memories again.

The princess walked a few feet away and bumped into something… or someone!


	10. Stress leads to a Baby?

"Rapunzel," Eugene's battered body spoke softly, "where are you going?"

"Eugene, I'm going back to my old quarters because Eugene is never coming -" Rapunzel walked on, about faced, and confronted the man. "Eu… Eugene, is it really you?" She tenderly traced his face with her finger, and fainted. But Eugene caught the princess by the waist and carefully hoisted her pregnant form up in his arms. He carried her into a vacant room and set his princess on the bed, watching her tummy, ignoring his own injuries for the time being.

The ex-thief gathered up some clean cloths and took them into the adjacent bathroom, where he'd wadded the materials and put them in the sink and pumped cold water onto them. Eugene then took the wet rags into the room where his wife lay. The chill of the mid-November air wasn't enough to cool Rapunzel down. She was burning up and Prince Fitzherbert placed the cool fabrics all around his wife's face.

Rapunzel awoke to sharp sensations in her back, completely unaware that her water had broken.

"Eugene, go get Dr. Miller."

"But, I just-"

"NOW!" She put her hands on the bed, pushed up, so her body sat straight up and began breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth.

"Okay, okay, Blondie," he kissed her head, then, Eugene found his way to the doctor's office and reported that something was going on with his wife. Dr. Miller hurried out of her office and up to the princess's bedroom. Eugene told her to follow him. "She's in here." Rapunzel heard the familiar sound of Eugene's voice. "She's here now, Blondie. You just try and relax." He kissed her head once more when her arm flung out and reached for him.

"No, Eugene!" She yelled in between breaths. "Please," breath, "stay with," breath, "me!" Another large breath, "I need," breath, "you." A huge breath. "I can't" breath, "do this," breath, "alone, Eugene!"

"Do what?" Eugene was, to say the least, confused.

"Just as I suspected; you've been under so much stress that it has caused you to go into labor."

"Labor?" Eugene screeched.

"Prince Fitzherbert, you need to leave now. Go get the queen,"

"NO!" Rapunzel screamed instead of breathing. "I want him with me!"

"But, Princess, men are not allowed -"

"I don't care! I want him with me!"

"You hear that? She wants me with her!"

"It's going to get ugly, Prince Fitzherbert," The doctor consoled.

"What do you mean 'UGLY'? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Rapunzel yelled, as another sharp contraction deformed her body, and she grabbed some blankets, twisting them in her hands. She resorted back to breathing.

"Don't worry, Blondie," Eugene kissed her, now soaked, head. "I'm not going anywhere. You can do this. You'll be alright, I promise," and with that he gave her his hand.

Rapunzel believed his promise. Twenty-seven excruciating hours passed and it was time for her to push.

"Alright, Princess, I need you to take a deep breath and hold it. On the count of three, I want you to push with all your being." With Eugene behind her, Rapunzel nodded and inhaled a large amount of air and held it. "Are you ready?" Rapunzel nodded again. "One, two, three, push!" Rapunzel groaned as the air left her mouth. She repeated this process four more times until she heard a tiny cry, unlike her own. "Congratulations! It's a healthy, beautiful baby girl." Dr. Miller cleaned and wrapped the newborn in a cute, fuzzy, pink blanket.

"She's precious!" Eugene adored the little bundle and kissed her face.

Rapunzel held her daughter close to her chest and relaxed for the first time in nearly twenty-eight hours! She breathed a sigh of relief. It was over and she had brought forth a tiny girl, with striking green eyes and long blonde hair.

"Have you thought of a name?" Dr. Miller wondered.

Rapunzel nodded, "Annaliese," she replied. "Annaliese Marie."

"Beautiful," the doctor sounded.

"And perfect… just like her parents," Eugene smiled proudly, to which Rapunzel elbowed him in the stomach.

"All right, time to leave. Our patient needs her rest," She urged Eugene out. Rapunzel thanked the doctor and met with the sound of a door closing.


	11. Annaliese and the Prisoner of War

Thirty-eight hours had passed and Eugene was anxious to see his bride. The ex-con had been pacing out in the hallway. The doctor had gone in to be with Rapunzel, so why couldn't he? Dr. Miller needed Rapunzel to deliver the placenta, which she had done lickety-split, but Eugene wasn't allowed in at that point. Dr. Miller said that after the princess had woken up they could all go in and visit, but the former Flynn Rider had other ideas.

Eugene decided that he could go in and be with her. So he rapped lightly on the door, opening it, and calling out, "Knock, knock." He opened the door and stepped in the room, noting his wife's sleeping form on the bed. Rapunzel was on her back and her arms were swayed to the right and left. But, there was no sign of Annaliese. Eugene smiled and got into bed with his princess, despite the lack of appearance of their baby. Perhaps his question would be answered when Rapunzel woke.

She turned on her side and slowly opened her emerald eyes. She smiled when she saw Eugene.

"Morning, sleepyhead." He teased.

Rapunzel flexed her arms, while yawning and sat up. "Morning, Eugene." She fell back into his strong arms and snuggled in closer near his goatee. "Eugene! You're back! I wasn't dreaming!" She turned onto him and began kissing him… passionately. Between welcoming strokes, the princess somehow managed to get out, softly, "Eugene,"

"Hmm?"

"Tell me you love me,"

"Blondie, you know that I-"

"Just tell me."

He decided to humor his wife, "I love you, Rapunzel."

A small smile crept onto her face and rested there.

"Now, where's Anna?" Eugene rubbed his wife's side.

"Oh, Dr. Miller took her and placed Anna in her crib. I was _so_ sleepy that she almost fell from my arms."

"You have been very tired. You almost slept for two days straight!"

"What!" Rapunzel jumped out of bed. "You mean it's Saturday?"

"Yep."

"No wonder my stomach's been growling." She looked down to her tummy. "Annaliese is probably starving!" The princess turned for the makeshift nursery. "I'm going to go feed her. I'll be right back." Rapunzel kissed Eugene's temple softly.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel walked into the improvised nursery, bent over the crib and raised Annaliese up. As her daughter wailed, Rapunzel's heart began to break. "Here now, Anna," she gripped Annaliese's head in her right hand and felt her way back into a rocking chair, where she sat, gracefully, holding Anna in her arms. She flung her left breast out of her gown and brought her firstborn to her chest. She wouldn't suckle. Anna only cried at the top of her lungs.

"Shh, shh, shh. Momma's got you," Although the princess didn't know any lullabies, she felt compelled to sing… anything! She first started out with her healing incantation, but decided against it when her daughter's hair started to glow.

Eugene snuck up behind the door. The former thief shushed Pascal who had scampered up next to his boot. The chameleon had yet to see Annaliese, and was curious as to what she looked like.

What Eugene heard next made him want to join in:

Rapunzel started:

"_And at last I see the light_"

"_And it's like the fog has lifted_" Eugene sang. Rapunzel whirled around, smiled and extended her right hand, holding Annaliese's figure with her left arm. She took hold of the ex-thief's left hand as they sang:

"_And at last I see the light_

_And it's like the sky is new_

_And it's warm and real and bright_

_And the world has, somehow, shifted_

_All at once, everything is different_

_Now that I see you_

_Now that I see you_" they finished as Anna began to put her mouth to her mother's breast. Rapunzel guided her nipple to the newborn's mouth and Anna grabbed a hold of it and began to nurse.

"I guess she wanted both of us in here," commented Eugene.

Rapunzel laughed light-heartedly. But, after Anna was done suckling, and was placed in her crib, Rapunzel covered her breast and pounded her fist against the railing, fell to the ground on her hands and knees and she started sobbing.

"Blondie, what's wrong?" Eugene asked as he wrapped his strong arms around her.

She looked up into his amber eyes, then back to the floor. "I can't even get my own daughter to nurse, let alone, stop crying. What kind of a mother am I?"

Eugene couldn't even believe that Rapunzel was questioning that.

"Rapunzel, you're a terrific mother who's just starting out. You're bound to get the hang of it, eventually. I mean, it's not like you had a real mother to look up to during your childhood." Once the words were out, he wished he could take them back. "I didn't mean… It's just-"

"I… I understand what you meant, Eugene, and you're right. I never had a real mother-figure to look up to before. I just recently met my mother three-years ago, and, although, Mo… Gothel did raise me; she did a terrible job of doing so. She succeeded in making me deathly afraid of the outside world and everything in it for eighteen years!"

"Let's not mention Gothel. Now, c'mere!" He pulled her into a gentle, but firm, big bear hug, pulled her onto his lap and kissed her head.

Noticing his neck for the first time, she put her hand up to the deep cut. "Eugene?" she said sweetly. "What happened here?"

"That? I just cut myself shaving," he joked, but she didn't laugh. The princess actually crossed her arms and glared at him. "Oh, you were serious. Let's just say it's a reminder of war."

"How so?"

"Well, see, in the middle of replying to your letter… I hope you got it."

"I did… and I was concerned about you. That's why I sent Maximus out."

"It's a good thing you did… or else I might be dead by now."

"Dead?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I was taken prisoner of war and the lieutenant tried to kill me through torture. He sliced my neck, nearly all the way through, branded my chest and had my back flogged."

Rapunzel pulled on his vest, trying to get it off, to get to his shirt. After she got that off, with Eugene fighting her all the way, she gasped at the sight before her. His chest held a huge welt in the center of it where he had been branded, like cattle, again and again and again. She turned to his back to see his flesh ripped apart, and had him lay upon his abdomen. The princess started to cry, hoping and praying that her tears would heal him. Rapunzel sang her healing spell as her tears flowed, and Eugene grimaced in pain. When nothing happened, she realized it was all in vain. Eugene would have to see a specialist to have his body healed.

Rapunzel sat back upon her legs and mournfully cried. Eugene got off his stomach and took her in his muscular arms.

"What's wrong, Blondie? What is it?"

She finally stopped crying long enough to take a deep breath and speak. "I can't do it, Eugene, I just can't do it!"

He arched an eyebrow. "Do what?"

More tears threatened to come. "Heal you! I can't heal you! If only I still had my-" An idea began to form in her head.

"Long, blonde, magical hair?" Eugene offered.

"Exactly! I'll be right back!"

"What are you-?"

"Don't move." She warned him. The princess came back with Annaliese in arms. "Get back on your stomach and hold still,"

Eugene obeyed. The baby's hair was less than a foot long, but still extensive enough to get the job done.

Rapunzel held her daughter by the ankles and let her hair glide over her husband's battered body. She sang her healing chant over and over again until the former thief's body was completely healed.

Eugene, then, got an idea of his own, as he stood up. "We need to cut her hair."

"What?" Rapunzel was deeply distressed over this, and brought her daughter to her own shoulder.

"Just a little trim… in case there are any more Gothel's out there."

"But, Eugene, no one but us and Dr. Miller knows that she has golden hair. And we are the only two who know of its healing properties. Plus it could come in handy in case one of us gets really sick or injured."

"Alright," Eugene agreed. He knew better than to argue with his wife. Still, he had an uneasy feeling about all of this.

A sleepy Annaliese yawned, forming a small o with her mouth, and closing her eyes. Rapunzel decided to place her in her cradle and then head for the bed for some much deserved rest.

When she lay down, Eugene covered her up, crept up next to Rapunzel's neck and whispered in her ear, "Honey, whadaya say we move back into _our_ room, find your wedding ring, so things can go back to the way they were?"

"Okay, but… oh no!" she sat straight up and slapped her knees.

"What, Blondie? What's wrong?"

"I locked the door and don't remember where I put the key!" she cried.

"Your parents must have a duplicate of it." Eugene hoped he was right.

"Oh, of course!"

"Now, c'mon, lay back down here with me and we'll worry about it later, okay?"

"Okay." And she let her tired form fall back into his solid arms.


	12. Introducing Katherine McCormick

As soon as Rapunzel came out of the room, husband in tow and daughter in her arms, Eugene lit the lights and everyone in Corona erupted into cheers.

"What was that again, about 'us and Dr. Miller, the only ones who know about her hair'?"

Rapunzel laughed. "Oops."

Those who had got a look at the tiny princess told others and they told others and they told others until the news finally reached a middle-aged woman named Katherine McCormick. Now Katherine was somewhat of a hermit, and only came out of her house to gather food supplies. She lived in the forest close to the princess's tower, which she called 'home' for the past eighteen years, and once she had ventured into that tower, finding a journal belonging to Gothel, she began to read and was very intrigued as to what the words had to say.

_Entry #1 _

_Tonight, I found a rare and beautiful flower, when sung to in this way:_

_Flower, gleam and glow,_

_Let your power shine_

_Make the clock reverse_

_Bring back what once was mine_

_What once was mine_

_it grants me the ability to reverse my aging process significantly. I have enclosed a drawing of the flower so I can find my way back to it._

_Hmm, _Katherine thought, _I wonder if it would work on me. _

She searched high and low, but could not find the blossom, so she turned back to the journal seeking answers. She had to skip a few notes, but then came upon the statement that she was looking for.

_Entry #7_

_Tonight, after I made myself young again, some palace guards came and uprooted my precious flower. What do they want with it?_

_Entry #9_

_Word has it that the Queen had taken ill last night. I can only guess that they boiled the flower into a broth and fed it to her. Now she has a baby girl with beautiful, long, golden hair and the power of the flower may have been passed onto her._

_Entry #10_

_Last night, I, successfully, broke into the castle, came into the nursery and towering over the tiny babe in the crib, sang the incantation and seeing her hair glow, I knew that the flower's power was in her. But after cutting a precious lock of hair off, her golden curl turned brown; once the tress turned brunette, it lost all of its magical abilities. That is why I had to steal the whole child. I am now raising her as my own where _no one _will ever find her. I've named her Rapunzel._

_I've, also, added a new verse to the magical tune:_

_Heal what has been hurt_

_Change the Fates' design_

_Save what has been lost_

_Bring back what one was mine_

_What once was mine_

_She has a sweet and precious voice that only Angels would be jealous of._

That was it! Katherine had the information she needed. She knew of Rapunzel's return, her beautiful, long, blonde hair being chopped off, and now through word of mouth, Katherine knew that the new princess had golden hair. She was determined to see the child up close and sing the melody to her. If her hair glows, who knows? But first, she needed to memorize the song, gain the trust of the prince and princess, and, ultimately, steal the baby.


	13. Annaliese's Nanny

Here's where YOU can take part in the story!

A fan art challenge:

After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these! If you're still up to it, I'm incredibly excited to see the different interpretations everyone has on this. :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me!

The Queen was, anxiously, standing outside of the intricate bedroom, waiting for her daughter to re-emerge with her granddaughter. Instead, her eyes met with a movement of blue and white.

"Oh, Eugene," the queen pulled at his arm. "How is she? Can I hold her?"

"No offense, your majesty, but," Eugene stroked at his goatee. "I think Rapunzel is too old and too big to be held, although I do it quite a lot." He added the last bit under his breath.

The queen erupted into bouts of laughter. "No, I meant the baby, Prince Fitzherbert."

"Oh, she's fine. I'll bring her out to you,"

"Thank you, Eugene." As the former thief started for the room and went inside, the king hobbled up the stairs on crutches. The queen gasped, "Peter!" She ran over to her husband, putting her hands on his chest, uplifting him. "You should still be in bed!"

"I know, but I wanted to see our granddaughter," he pouted.

"Rapunzel's sleeping and is burning up, so I'll need to go back in there, but I got Anna for you," he nearly dropped Annaliese when he saw His majesty. "Your highness!" He bowed out of politeness and respect.

"Eugene, my boy, at first I was a little hesitant to give my daughter to you," Eugene placed Anna in the queen's arms. "But now I see that you are truly the best thing that has happened to her. And, believe it or not, you have become like a member of the family to us." He limped over to Prince Fitzherbert and put his right hand on Eugene's left shoulder. "You're like the son we never had and we're… _I'm_ very grateful to you. I need you here, Prince Fitzherbert, not just for me or Elizabeth, but for Rapunzel and Annaliese."

"Thank you, your majesty," Eugene answered honestly and bowed. "But speaking of Anna, I believe I have the problem solved."

"Problem?" Elizabeth queried, handing Annaliese back to Eugene. "What problem?"

"Well, Rapunzel seems greatly exhausted and Anna is only adding to her tiredness, so I'm thinking of hiring a nanny."

"I'll do it!" the queen quickly volunteered.

Eugene shook his head. "We'll need someone full-time and, while, I thank your Grace, you still need to reside as queen, with all your royal duties beside His highness." He nodded toward the king, acknowledging him.

He thanked Prince Fitzherbert with a nod of his own.

And so, an edict was issued and hung everywhere a piece of paper could be tacked up, from inside the kingdom to the outskirts, decreeing that a royal sitter was needed, one with good morals and was great with babies and kids. And it was on this day that a certain woman by the name of Katherine McCormick came out of her house to restock on supplies.

She deposited several coins on the bakery table as she gathered up her few precious loaves of freshly baked bread. Next stop was the Poultry workshop. She walked about half a mile to buy her four-dozen eggs. Katherine placed a few coins on the poultry's desk and went to pick out the largest eggs of all. Next, was the dairy factory, but on her way there she saw one of the proclamations for a royal nanny. She nearly dropped her eggs at the sight.

"_By Royal decree of Prince Fitzherbert -_

_We are in dire need of a caregiver for our child. Whomever we chose will be paid, I assure you. They will, also, be given room and board in exchange for the well-being of our child._

_We'd prefer it if you:_

_Are not married_

_Are great with children_

_Know any lullabies_

_We do appreciate your cooperation in all of this."_

_This is perfect! _Katherine thought to herself, excitedly, as she pulled an edict down from a tree. _I won't have to steal the newborn princess after all! I just need to become her nanny and sing the song!_

Remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, _**REVIEW, **__**REVIEW!**_ That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!


	14. Illness

Here's where YOU can take part in the story!

A fan art challenge:

After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these! If you're still up to it, I'm incredibly excited to see the different interpretations everyone has on this. :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me!

Lying in their old bed, Rapunzel rested in the crook of his arm, Eugene thought to himself, "How lucky am I to have this, this," the ex-con tried to think of a word that would best describe Rapunzel, but he only came up with, flower. Wasn't that what Gothel used to call her? He shrugged his shoulders and continued his thought, "flower beside me? What would I do without her? Look at the way she holds Anna. Even in her sleep, she wraps her arms about this gift she has given to me, with such love, such care. I, still, can't believe she mistrusted herself about being a good mother. I'm the one who's supposed to do that about being a good enough father! He, gently, took a sleeping Annaliese out of her mother's arms and placed her, on her back, in her new crib. As he climbed back into bed beside his wife, there was a stirring movement.

"Mmm," Rapunzel stretched, and yawned, while waking up; she stifled a cough that she felt coming on for quite a while now.

"Morning, beautiful," Eugene kissed the top of her chocolate brown hair, which felt like it was on fire.

"Morning, Eugene." She softly brushed her lips against his, nearly burning him in the process. "Uh, Eugene, where's Anna?"

"Well,"

"Eugene," she coughed, producing yellow phlegm.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she struggled to breathe, "now, continue on with your story."

"I mean it, Blondie! You're burning up, having a hard time breathing, and coughing, sometimes bringing up with it yellow and green stuff."

"I am FINE! Now tell me where Anna is!"

"Okay, you were sleeping so soundly,"

"Eugene." Her voice grew higher in pitch.

"And I didn't want her to be mother smothered,"

"Eugene, you really think I'd do that to our daughter?"

"No, at least, not on purpose," which earned him a punch in the arm, "Ow!" he giggled, for it didn't hurt; he was just shocked that she would do that.

"So, where is she?"

"In her crib, sleeping. But, I think I've found a solution to your exhaustion and Annaliese's care."

"Which is?"

"Hire a nanny."

"But, Eugene, then I'll never see her again!"

"Sure you will, especially during feedings." Rapunzel couldn't decide whether he was joking or being serious.

"Eugene," Rapunzel groaned and advanced to hit her husband with a pillow, but she picked it up and dropped it. "Fine. On one condition,"

"Name it?"

"You'll answer a question for me, without any hesitation, and complete honesty." Rapunzel started to get out of the bed.

"O-kay."

Once she was on the floor, she proceeded with her question. "Back in that tower… why did you give your life for me?"

"Blondie, you know the answer to that question."

"Oh, no you don't! Not this time, Eugene Fitzherbert! I'm not letting you off that easily," Rapunzel tapped her foot on the velvet covered floor and crossed her arms. "I want the whole truth."

Eugene sat up, sighed and blew out a puff of air, "Rapunzel, you need to understand something. I was a criminal just waiting for the noose. You were the only thing… I mean the only thing worth living for. And I was chained to that piece of wood and couldn't get free to go after you, so I did the only noble thing I've ever done in my entire life; cut your hair so that Gothel had no more control over you, whatsoever! You could go on and live your life the way it was meant to be: free."

"But I loved you."

"That's another thing; you stayed with me and, obviously, cried over me: a thief! Why?"

As Rapunzel crawled back into bed, she gave him her answer, "Because I loved you, Eugene. Thief or not." She grabbed his right arm, pulled it out, across and down her fragile form. "I love you, Eugene, you know that?"

"I sure do, Blondie," he leaned his brown head atop her chocolate one, "I sure do. And I love you, too."

Rapunzel murmured happily as she snuggled in closer to Eugene, and fell asleep; wheezing and coughing.

Remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, _**REVIEW, **__**REVIEW!**_ That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!


	15. Plague!

Eugene was surrounded by a mound full of profile papers from women who wanted the job of being Annaliese's nanny.

He sifted through them all, specific ones catching his attention. "Bring in the first candidate," Prince Fitzherbert announced, his voice reverberating through the halls. With Rapunzel by his side, and Annaliese in her arms, Eugene knew he could face anything.

After careful examination of a few would-be nannies', Rapunzel handed Annaliese to Eugene. "Here, Eugene," she commanded, placing Anna in his arms, "I'm going to lie down for a while and try to shake this headache away." She shivered. "Brrr, it's chilly." She covered her arms with the other.

"Sweetheart, its summer!"

"Then why do I have goosebumps?" she rolled up her lavender sleeves to show her husband. "See?" Eugene inspected her arms with bumps along the surface of her limbs.

"C'mere," her husband ordered her. She came close to Eugene and he put the outside of his hand to her forehead. "You're burning up!"

"Then why do I feel so cold? I'm going to lie down, cover up, and hopefully all this will be gone when I wake up." She would walk a few steps; take ahold of the banister, pant and cough. All this was repeated until she finally reached their chambers.

Eugene was getting very concerned and decided to put this whole 'finding a nanny' thing on hold for now. He'd watched Rapunzel struggling for breath and coughing, so he decided to put in a word to Dr. Miller about his wife's strange behavior.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Dr. Miller!" his voice rang out in her small laboratory; hand still on the doorknob, the door ajar enough to let his body through. "Dr. Miller, I need you!" Eugene had cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

"Back here, Prince Fitzherbert!" she called from a cubicle down the hall.

Eugene walked slowly past all the tubes and vials that contained concoctions and he scrunched down his eyebrows as he stopped in front of a flask, tapping the glass, then, remembering the task at hand, continued on his way to the physician. Once he came in contact with the doctor, the former thief explained what was troubling him.

Grabbing her medical bag, Dr. Miller ran after the ex-con until they reached their chambers. Eugene, hand on their handle, put his right index finger up to his lips. They leaned into the door and heard the faint raspy sounds of Rapunzel breathing. Dr. Miller flew open the door and, careful not to disturb her patient, ran, quietly, yet quickly, to Rapunzel's side.

She took the princess's pulse, listened to her heart and lungs, and eventually found her way to Rapunzel's forehead. "Someone had better call for Dr. Emil Shvartz. He lives in Akon. As for everyone else, leave now!" Dr. Miller guided Eugene out quickly and closed the door behind her.

"You there, guard!" he pulled a guard from his post and barked orders into his face, "find this Dr. Emil Shvartz who lives in Akon, not an hours ride from here!"

The guard, tentatively, nodded his head. Eugene wasn't satisfied until he saw the guard leave on a horse who broke into a full gallop.

"What are we dealing with here, doctor?" the ex-thief wrung his hands.

"I'm not an expert in these things, but," Dr. Miller explained.

"But, what?"

"Plague, Prince Fitzherbert. I believe it to be pneumonic plague."


	16. Dealing with Pneumonic Plague

**Well, I got 7 out of the ten reviews I asked for, and I think you've been more than patient with me, so, now on to the chapter!**

"What! She can't possibly have pneumonic plague. She has a healthy daughter-"

"Annaliese hasn't been around her, has she?"

"Not much, no, but I don't see what that h-"

"You have. We must get you quarantined."

"What? No! I want to stay with Rapunzel! I'll take all the precautions that are necessary, as long as I _can be with_ her! Please!"

"I'm afraid I must insist, Prince Fitzherbert."

"And I must insist that I stay with my wife!" Eugene pulled Dr. Miller close to him and thundered the orders into her face.

"We can put a piece of glass separating her from you, but you cannot be in the same room with her. I forbid it."

"You forbid it," Eugene chuckled. "_You_ forbid it. You _forbid_ it? You can't forbid it!" He took the doctor by the shoulders and shook her, "You don't have the authority to forbid it!"

"No, Prince Fitzherbert? Well, let's just tell the king and queen about my suspicions of their only daughter having pneumonic plague, shall we?"

Eugene opened his mouth to say something, but just as quickly, shut it.

"Very well, then. Dr. Shvartz will have to Venipuncture, that is, draw blood from a vein and then examine it to determine whether it is pneumonic plague or not."

"Someone call my name?" A man in his mid-fifties, about five foot seven inches, with balding hair, suddenly appeared behind them.

"Emil!" Dr. Miller jumped into his outstretched arms. "It's great to see you, my love, but you've come to Corona at her darkest hour."

"Why? What has happened, Miranda?"

"I believe the princess has taken ill with pneumonic plague."

"Well," Dr. Shvartz pulled a cloth out of his back pocket and placed it over his nose and mouth, "I'll need some assistance in determining that." He allowed Dr. Miller to lead him to Rapunzel's chambers, but Eugene blocked their way, standing in between the door and them.

"No! If anyone is going to 'assist' with my wife that will be me!" He pointed to himself.

"Prince Fitzherbert, we've been through this alr-"

"Dr. Miller," Eugene sighed as he took her aside, "you yourself believe that I have already been exposed. What damage could it be to assist my wife in her time of need?"

"Well put, Prince Fitzherbert, well put," Dr. Miller sighed in defeat.

oOoOoOoOoOo

As soon as Emil and Eugene had disappeared into the princess's room, Rapunzel came charging toward her husband.

"Eugene, what is all this?" Coughing, she pointed to the new doctor.

"Rapunzel, don't freak out, but, uh," who was he kidding? He knew she'd freak out. He would.

"What!" Rapunzel blurted out, harshly, her fingernails tapping on the outside of her lavender dress, where her thigh was.

Eugene sighed, "Dr. Miller thinks you may have pneumonic plague."

Rapunzel put a hand to her heart, sliding back down onto the bed. "From what I've read up on the plagues, pneumonic is the most deadly."

Eugene got down on his knees and took her petite hands in his large ones. "Rapunzel, I will do _anything_ and _everything_ in my power to keep you with me. I love you, so much. You are my _reason_ for living, and I'm not going to lose you – you understand?" Rapunzel nodded while quietly crying. "Good. Now we're going to have to take some blood."

"How?" Rapunzel looked at Eugene, her eyes shimmering with tears.

"Venipuncture," was the first word Dr. Shvartz spoke. "It's where we take a needle, insert it into a vein, and take a sample of your blood and collect it into this vial."

Rapunzel's huge emerald eyes became even larger, eyeing the needle Dr. Shvartz produced.

"Eugene, I'm scared!" She hid her face in his vest.

Rapunzel knew she was dying, and now, Eugene had also been subjected to pneumonic plague – and there wasn't a single thing the princess could do.

"Don't worry, Blondie. Here," he lent her his hand, "squeeze if it hurts."

Eugene scooted around the bed to make room for the doctor, still allowing Rapunzel to hold his hand.

"Now, I'm going to need you to roll your sleeve up, while I tie this scarf, tightly, around your arm-"

"What's the scarf for?" Rapunzel put her index finger up to her bottom lip.

"It will allow me to see the veins on the outside of your arm and the precise place to insert the needle. After the vein is punctured, we'll let the blood flow into my vial and I'll take the blood down to Dr. Miller's office where I'll put it on a glass tray and view it under a microscope. Now, can you make a fist for me? I know you must be weak, but this will help."

Rapunzel, gently, brought her pinky finger into her palm, followed by her ring finger, middle finger, index finger, and finally her thumb; and made a rather large fist for such a petite hand.

"Excellent," Dr. Shvartz brought the needle to the princess's arm and Rapunzel squeezed her eyes shut; "now you'll feel just a pinch and then it will be all over."

Rapunzel let her arm drop and sang the only song she knew of to calm her nerves:

"_Flower, gleam and glow_

_Let your power shine_

_Make the clock reverse_

_Bring back what once was mine._

_Heal what has been hurt_

_Change the Fates' design_

_Save what has been lost_

_Bring back what once was mine_

_What once was mine."_

"All done!" Rapunzel opened her eyes, to see the vial filled with crimson liquid. She couldn't believe that it was over. She'd hardly felt a thing and she was cringing like a two-year-old! "I'll get this down to Dr. Miller's office and have a look at it right away."

"You were very brave, Blondie. Very brave and I love you with all my heart." Eugene kissed her brow and let go of her hand to follow Dr. Shvartz down to Dr. Miller's office.

"I love you, too," she coughed out.


	17. Suicide chain and Flowers

"Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. Just as I had thought," Emil turned away from the microscope, and back toward Eugene.

"What doctor?"

"The princess, indeed, has pneumonic plague, but… I found a suicide chain at the end of the Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes plague."

"Which means?" Eugene eyed the doctor, skeptically.

"The plague is dead… if it has been at least thirty-two hours."

"Since?"

"Since your wife developed the disease."

"Rapunzel's had all the symptoms for at least three days."

"However… I wouldn't have her out and about just yet… at least until she no longer shows signs of pneumonic plague. But, sadly, there is nothing more I can do for her." Eugene was disappointed and it had clearly shown on his face.

"Perhaps, there is something I can offer you, Prince Fitzherbert. One thing Gothel overlooked, when the magical flower was being uprooted, from the flower fell five pods, each containing a magical flower seed. They have been trampled and rained upon, so I believe they're ripe for the picking. Just remember: gather the flower and all of its parts together, so as not to destroy the magic in the process. Only one flower is needed."

"Where are they?"

"I don't know, Prince Fitzherbert. That is up to you, to find them before time runs out."

He would search heaven and earth to find this flower and save his wife. He knew the incantation. He _would_ save his wife and himself from the dreaded disease.

"But first, I need to do something real quick."


	18. Time Together

**Here's where YOU can take part in the story!**

**A fan art challenge:**

**After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these, which has been zero so far, but there's still time! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me!**

He ran up to his wife's bedroom and knocked ever so lightly on the heavy oak doors, but then decided it was better just to walk in. There, he saw Rapunzel lying upon the bed and in taking shallow, raspy breaths.

"Oh, Rapunzel," Eugene sighed, "I wish," he sighed again. "I wish I could turn back time. I guess what I'm saying is I wish… I wish we'd never met. As much as I love you, you deserve so much more." He was crying at this point. "You deserve to be free, as free as you were when you escaped that tower, only now you wouldn't need me. You could have had adventures all by yourself, leaving that tower…" he reached out and grabbed her delicate hand, stroking it gently, "discovering who you really were, finding your family, marrying someone worthy of you, raising a family with him, and so on." He reached his other hand up to wipe away his tears.

"You are worthy of me, Eugene. You just doubt yourself." She reached out to touch his cheek. "_Never_ wish that again. Are you unhappy with our marriage?"

"No, it's not-"

"Are you disappointed that we have a healthy, beautiful daughter?"

"Of course no-"

"Then what is it?"

"I just wish you had never gotten sick!" The words came spilling out; one over the other in one angry heap.

Rapunzel put a finger to her bottom lip, and cocked her head contemplating what her husband had just said.

"Blondie, I probably brought that wretched disease in here and you caught it," Eugene said, sadly.

"No, Eugene, you never even had the symptoms," she coughed lightly. "And… I'm sorry that I yelled at you."

"Me, too," Eugene raked a hand through his hair.

This was the first time that Rapunzel noticed him without a cloth over his face. "Eugene, why is your face uncovered?" Then comprehension dawned on her. Eugene had also been subjected to pneumonic plague – and now – he was dying, too. "Oh, Eugene, I'm so sorry." She allowed her head to rest on his chest.

"For what?"

"For getting you sick," she mumbled into his shirt.

"I'm not sick, Blondie,"

"But you… weren't you exposed to it?"

"Yes, but its dead now an-" he was cut off.

"What's dead?"

"The stuff that causes pneumonic plague –" Rapunzel cut him off, yet, again.

"That's great! Now, I can get out of here!"

"Not yet, Blondie."

Rapunzel was confused. "Why not?"

"Because Dr. Shvartz, the new doctor you met, doesn't want you out and about while you still have the symptoms of pneumonic plague," now was his chance and he was seizing it. "That's why I have to go away." Eugene explained, snatching her by the shoulders and firmly planted a sweet, tender, passionate kiss on her moist lips. Gosh, how he'd missed that.

She must've missed that, too, for after he pulled away and spun around, she turned him back around, grabbed him by the vest and pulled him into a deeper kiss. "Gee, how I've missed that! If it's dead, then I'm going with you. What do we have to do?" She coughed again.

"_We_? Unh-uh. Not this time, Blondie. I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous in your condition."

"Condition? _What_ condition?" She snapped with her hands on her hips.

"The coughing, fever, chills, all of it!" He counted off her symptoms on his fingers then threw his arms open widely.

"Why can't we just stay here for a little one-on-one time together?" Rapunzel asked, snuggling down into the warm linens that lined her bed.

Eugene couldn't resist that offer, and quickly took her up on it, before he had a chance to change his mind, so he crawled onto the bed, like a tiger on the prowl, seeking his reward: Rapunzel. The princess let out a shriek as Eugene came up to her and ravished his tender morsel starting with the lips and moving, ever slowly, downwards.

After their second time making love, Eugene smiled at himself, quickly to note Rapunzel's sudden shift in the bed. She had fallen asleep not five minutes ago, and, yet, her fingernails were breaking the skin of her palms, causing them to bleed. He decided to wake her up.

"Blondie. Blondie, c'mon… time to wake up,"

"No… Eugene! No,"

It was all coming back to him. She'd cried the same words when he lay dying up in that tower. What was she dreaming about? Well, he was about to find out.

"Stop…" she bolted straight up, large eyes fully open, with sweat pouring down her face. "Eugene!"

"You called?" he teased.

"Eugene! You're alive!" She snuggled up close to him, arms around his neck, and began crying.

"Of course I'm alive." The former thief pulled her into his lap, but this gesture made her cry even harder. "Hey, what's all this?" He took his thumb and, with it, gently wiped away her tears, causing more to come. "I was only kidding, Blondie." Thinking his actions before had caused this breakthrough.

Rapunzel shook her head from side to side, "Eugene, it's not that," she grabbed a cloth and blew her nose. "I… I was dreaming an-"

"About?"

"Well, the council revoked your pardoning, and you were condemned to death-"

"By hanging?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "Much worse."

"What could be worse than hanging?"

"Does being beheaded count?" Eugene reached up to his throat, put a hand around it, and swallowed. "And if that weren't enough, they burned your body, first, to make sure you died a slow and painful death. And my parents chained me in my room, facing your doomed fate, watching every single action that happened to you. You, finally, bowed your head, after being scorched, and laid it upon the executioner's block, and when the axe came down… I woke up."

"Blondie, don't worry. Nothing like that is going to happen." Eugene held her close for several minutes, his right hand cradling her head.

Rapunzel had cried herself to sleep, so the dark-haired man lifted her up and put her underneath the covers on her side of the bed. He tucked her in and kissed her cool forehead.

"Sleep well, Blondie. Have sweet dreams – no more dreams about me dying, okay? I love you, but, I have to go."

Eugene was almost at the door, when he heard a couple light coughs and then a groggy voice call out to him.

"Eugene?" The former thief was at Rapunzel's side in a flash.

He took hold of her right hand. "I'm here. I'm here, Blondie," he gently wiped the stray brown wisps of hair, which had fallen into her face, back.

She lifted her left hand to his, "Find Pascal for me, please?"

"I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask of you, Eugene." And with that, she fell back to sleep.

**Please r****emember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, **_**REVIEW, REVIEW!**_** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	19. Information and Confrontations

**Here's where YOU can take part in the story!**

**A fan art challenge:**

**After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these, which has been zero so far, but there's still time! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me!**

**A/N: I didn't understand what I did, naming the two lieutenants, until AFTER I was done writing this chapter. Laugh all you want... I did :0**

The prince consort walked into the king and queen's throne room, not bothering to have himself addressed. He marched straightforward to King Peter's throne. He wanted… no, he _needed_ answers.

"Your highness, I need some answers. Your daughter's life depends on it,"

"Go on, Eugene. Ask your question,"

"We all know that when the queen was taken ill, you sent out a number of people in search of the magic golden flower. I need to know who found it and its exact location," he got the information out in record time.

"How does this pertain to my daughter's life?"

"In case you haven't known, Rapunzel has recently come down with pneumonic plague," the king began silently crying for his only daughter, as he did the night of her eighteenth birthday. "But you needn't worry, for the bacteria that caused the plague is dead." Eugene took a deep breath, "however, the damage has been done, and that is why I must find out where the flower was."

"The flower has been destroyed. How can it help you now?"

"When, whomever, uprooted the flower, five pods fell from the petals. I must find them to locate the other flowers, which, by now, have grown and matured into five new magic flowers."

"My, now, lieutenants, Taylor and Swift, uprooted the flower and brought it to me. Their memories aren't as fresh as they once were, but I would ask them."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"If you need any more answers, Eugene, don't hesitate to ask." The ex-thief nodded his thanks. He was on his way to find Taylor and Swift.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Why should we give you any information, Rider?" Taylor peered straight into the prince consort's eyes, seeming to gaze into the very depths of his soul, which caused Eugene's skin to crawl.

"Look, first of all, the name's Fitzherbert, not Rider, secondly," Eugene's spine just grew, as he took a deep breath, shoving the lieutenant against the wall and pinned him there, "it's not _for_ me! It's for your _princess_!" It was a half-truth. "Now," he added in a gentler tone, "you're going to tell me where that flower was or go to the King and tell him why his daughter won't be cured from pneumonic plague. It's up to you."

The face of Lieutenant Taylor seemed to cower under Eugene's red one. He gulped and began, "It was on the island of Drakko, just south of here, where the dragons used to reign." Eugene released his vice-like grip.

Dragons! Why did it have to be dragons? "Thank you, now was that so hard?" The prince consort played with the lieutenant's neck tie.

Lieutenant Taylor sneered. He disliked being humanitarian to Prince Fitzherbert. Lieutenant Swift, on the other hand, was a very kindhearted soul; he would have answered Eugene's question without any hesitation. So as the former thief turned to take his leave, Taylor tried to grasp at him, but Swift held him at bay.

Meanwhile, the prince consort had a promise to uphold.

**Please r****emember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, **_**REVIEW, REVIEW!**_** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	20. Drakko, Flower's and DeathOh My!

He looked at his bride upon the bed. She looked so peaceful. He hated to wake her, yet he had to.

He walked over to where the princess lay and began shaking her arm. "Rapunzel?" He heard a soft moan, which caused him to smile. "Rapunzel, I need you to get up."

The brunette turned to face him. "Eugene?" She started to sit up. "When can I get out of here?"

The ex-con had a sympathetic smile on his face. "Blondie, you can wander the castle, but everything else is off limits." The young woman pouted, jutting her bottom lip out. "Don't give me that look. It's doctor's orders."

"Well, I guess I'll take what I can get, but for right now, I just want a bath and a fresh change of clothes," she stood up, took her crossed arms, uncrossed them and let them fall to her sides.

As soon as she had gotten out of bed, and took one step, she collapsed, and Eugene rushed to her side. Helping her muscles strengthen by walking on her feet was tiresome and wearying work, all of which needed to be done. Once her muscles had re-gained their forte back, the princess walked out of the door, and down the hall, toward her and Eugene's bedchambers.

The former crook suddenly stopped, pulling Rapunzel close. "Um, hey, remember how I promised to look for Pascal? Well," he raked his hand through his brown hair.

"What?" Rapunzel re-crossed her arms and turned so that the left side of her hip seemed to be protruding out.

"Since you're up, can you do that on your own? I'd do it, but, I have other responsibilities an-" Rapunzel cut him off.

"To whom?"

"To you." He brought her in for a hug, placing his chin atop her head. "I want you to get better, and the only way that will happen is if I leave to bring back another magical flower."

Rapunzel broke away from the warm embrace. "What? That flower has been annihilated!"

"No, it… well, yes it has, but that's not the point." She turned her back on him.

"Then what is the point?" She shot angrily, over her shoulders.

Eugene came toward Rapunzel and put his arms over hers. "Blondie," he sighed, "when the guards uprooted the flower, five pods fell from its petals, with new seeds for five new flowers. Since it has been roughly twenty-four years the seeds have had time to mature and grow, they are ready to heal. Now do you understand?"

"There are five new magical flowers? Why didn't I know about this?" she turned back around to face Eugene.

"Probably because Gothel kept you hidden up in that tower for so long and," the prince consort started swaying with Rapunzel's body to a tune that was in his head, "because they weren't fully grown."

"Okay," she reached up on tiptoes to kiss him. "You handle the flower and I'll-" this time Eugene cut her off.

"Somehow, handle the frog." Rapunzel was not amused.

"Just don't take too long, or get hurt or injured." She poked at his chest, "Some people actually like this body." The princess pulled his regal, black, vest together.

"I'll keep that in mind when I'm in Drakko Island," he put his hands over hers, but she quickly wrenched them back.

"You're going to -" the brunette firmly clasped both hands over her mouth and began shaking her head. "No, Eugene! Don't go! Please!" She tugged at his arm. "What if you meet up with one of them? They'll grind your bones, pickle your spleen and squeeze the jelly from your eyes!" She shivered and started crying.

The prince consort took his princess by the hands, led her into their bedroom and sat her in a chair. "First off, I think they're all dead, secondly, you just described a giant and an ogre," he laughed, but inwardly was cringing. He didn't want to go to Drakko, but he had no choice. Rapunzel _had_ to get better. "It's not like I'm going by myself," he reassured her, but mostly himself.

"No?"

"Of course not! I'll be taking Max."

"But what if -"

"Rapunzel, I'm going and that's the last I want to hear of it."

"Can I please finish my question?"

"Sure. Go ahead,"

"What if I'm pregnant again? Not saying that I am, but you seem very potent in your 'little Eugene' area," this time, it was she who eyed his crotch region, and turned beet red, "and I'm exceedingly fertile in mine," she pulled him in for a tender hug, "plus we just made love, and now… I'm scaring myself! Without you around, what will the baby and I do?"

"Do you think you're pregnant again? Is there a way to find out?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "Not until the end of the month, and then its only speculation."

"Well, I can't wait that long."

"I know," the princess sighed. "I just… I just wish you didn't have to go."

"I know, but it can't be helped." Eugene kissed her forehead lightly.

"Can't we send out some guards?" She rested her head to the side of his chest.

"I can't trust them with this quest."

"Well, at least take Pascal. He can come get me if there's any trouble and I'll dispatch search parties," she turned to the bedpost, where the maid, Abigail, made him a little makeshift bed out of packages and cloths, and placed it where the princess could talk to him. But the sight that greeted the young brunette was one of fright. The reptile was totally shriveled up, un-breathing and pale for a chameleon. "Pascal, time to get up." When the lizard didn't move, Eugene's suspicions were confirmed.

"Poor little guy,"

"Why do you say that?"

Rapunzel was so naïve, it was hard for him not to smile, in spite of the circumstances. The prince consort led his bride by the arm away and sat her down in a chair while he straddled a stool across from her. "Rapunzel, Pascal is," he tried to put it delicately. "Pascal is with his other chameleon friends now."

The princess cocked her head to one side, "When will he be back?"

"He's… he's not coming back, Blondie. I'm sorry."

"No, Eugene! He can't be..!" She carefully picked his little body up. "Oh, no wonder! He had the same symptoms as I had and now he's…" she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"So, he's the culprit that brought the pneumonic plague in here," Rapunzel nodded and sniffed. The former thief had all intentions on leaving then, but he just couldn't… not at a time like this.

The princess closed Pascal's reptilian eyelids, and straightened his appendages to make him look a little more life-like, instead of all shriveled up. She crawled up into bed and wept. Eugene put his hand on her back and began stroking it.

"And to think," the brunette cried in frustration for the passing of her good friend, "Pascal was really starting to warm up to you!"

Eugene suddenly swore, causing Rapunzel to jump. "What? What's wrong?"

"I just remembered something." The prince consort mentally kicked himself.

"What?" Rapunzel sat up, and gently urged him on.

"I forgot all about finding Annaliese a nanny. Once you got sick, I put the search on hiatus, and then when we found out what it was that got you sick, I simply forgot!" this caused Rapunzel to jump out of bed.

"Oh no! Anna!" She began pacing around the room, Pascal's death totally forgotten. "How is she? Did our daughter catch the pneumonic plague? Can I see her?" The questions tumbled out over each other.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it there, Blondie, keep pacing like that and you'll wear a hole in the floor," he laughed, as he led his wife to sit in a plush, forest green chair. "Anna is fine and she did not get the plague, but I don't think it would be very wise to see her yet. She's in isolation."

"But I thought she didn't get the pneumonic plague?"

"She didn't," the Prince consort explained, "but she's in isolation from us, so she doesn't come down with it."

"I don't understand." Rapunzel shook her head. "If it's dead now, why can't we see her?"

"I just don't think it would be a good thing to do right now." An idea occurred to Eugene, as he took Rapunzel by the hands and pulled his bride to her feet. "Tell you what, why don't you handle the nanny position while I'm off looking for the flower."

"I guess I can do that," she looked up into his amber eyes and he gazed into her emerald ones. "But _please_ be careful! I want you back soon, and in one piece!" She grazed her lips against his and held him close by the torso. The princess bent her head against his chest.

"I'll be careful, Rapunzel. You can count on that." The former thief rested his head upon hers, a smile playing at his chapped lips. _I can't believe I tried to pawn off this priceless treasure for a mere crown! How foolish I was!_ Eugene thought, mentally slapping himself. _Well, at least now she's mine and, as God as my witness, I swear, I'll never let anything bad happen to her again!_ The ex-con kissed the top of his bride's head.


	21. Drakko Isle

Here's where YOU can take part in the story!

A fan art challenge:

After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc., to me!

Eugene wasn't on Drakko Island long, when he, along with Maximus, discovered the whereabouts of the new magical flowers. He was extremely careful to unearth every part of the flower, as directed by Dr. Miller. The thirty-year-old man was digging while Maximus went off to graze. When Prince Fitzherbert, unknowingly, pulled up the roots and began tugging on the last one, which was connected to the edge of the precipice, the cliff with Eugene on it, started to break loose!

Eugene Fitzherbert was falling! He didn't know how fast or how far – all he knew was that his life was flashing before his eyes. _Rapunzel - her laugh – her eyes – oh, how he loved them! – her sweet persona. _He held the flower securely in his arms when he finally stopped – a mere foot from the cliff. He'd been screaming like a little kid – for twelve long inches!

The prince consort laughed to himself and carefully turned around and reached for a hold in the bluff overhead. He felt around for something to grasp for a few seconds until a spiky rock was felt and gripped tightly. To his surprise, the rock began moving; pulling his tired frame up out of the fallen precipice, flower in hand.

Once Eugene was up on the cliff's top, he was face to face with a dragon! The mighty lizard looked to be a Stegasorous with wings! The prince consort felt as if he'd been transported back in time, but when the dragon began to speak, he realized that his mind was only playing tricks on him.

"What doth thou want with my flower?" the rich, baritone voice asked.

"Your flower?" Eugene countered, holding the flower up.

"Yes, my flower,"

"Well, you see, my wife, the princess of this fair country, has taken ill with pneumonic plague, and I am on a quest to save her most dear life, and your flower, as you so call it, is the only thing that can save her."

"Thou wilt not abuse it as that one woman had?"

"What woman?"

"Thy old woman, with black hair, who kept the flower hidden, for her own personal use."

"Gothel? You're comparing _me_ to _Gothel_?" Prince Fitzherbert was aghast by this revelation and he broke into uncontrollable laughter. After regaining his composure, he proceeded to ask, "Did she uproot her flower?"

"No," the deep voice of the magnificent creature came.

"Did the royal guards uproot it to save their dying queen?"

"Yes. They did right by the flowers healing powers."

"And that is _exactly_ what I'm go-" he was cut off by someone calling his name.

"Eugene? Eugene?" _Oh no_! The prince consort thought, _I told her_ specifically _that the doctors didn't want her out and about yet, but did _she _listen? No-o-o!_

"Rapunzel," his voice was stern in a loving way. "Had I known you were coming, I wouldn't have dug up this flower." Then came the one question she was dreading. "Why are you here?"

"Do you realize how long you've been gone?"

"Three days." Was Prince Fitzherbert's answer.

"Try three months," came the brunette's response.

"What!" he turned to look at the dragon. "How can that possibly be?"

"Time is an illusion on Drakko Isle. What appears to be days, in reality, are months."

"I didn't know that! Honestly, Rapunzel, if I had known that-"

"I know… but it's time you came home, flower or not, because I'm pregnant. Nearly four months now."

"What! Really! Am I the first to know?" All of his words came bounding out over each other.

"Well, you're the second to know."

"Oh, and who was the first!" Eugene shot at his wife.

"Me, you idiot!"

"Oh, well, I guess that's okay, then."

"It had better be, Eugene," Rapunzel poked him in the gut.

"So, I guess we'll not be needing this, then," he held up the flower and began to dig a hole with his hands to replant it.

"Eugene, do you realize how many people we can help in Corona with that flower? Why, just planting it in a pot and taking it to sick, injured and ailing people would do so much good! Even if I have to sing that stupid incantation over three billion times, would be worth it." Eugene couldn't argue with her on that. He simply needed to get the dragon's approval.

Eugene turned to the brilliant beast and pleaded with him, "May we keep this flower to do as my wife, Rapunzel, has said? It will be used for nothing but good. I give you my word."

"If what she says is true _and_ you intended to use it for that purpose _only…_ then you may take it."

"Good. Thank you. We will!" Rapunzel bubbled over. "Now, c'mon, Eugene, let's get home."

Remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, _**REVIEW, **__**REVIEW!**_ That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!


	22. Hello, Oliver Eugene Fitzherbert

**Here's where YOU can take part in the story!**

**A fan art challenge:**

**After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these, which has been zero so far, but there's still time! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me! Shannon, please, I'd like you to try to attempt this!**

**A/N - I apologize if it sounds like I'm copying off anyone. I assure you, it is purely coincidental!**

Off they walked to find Maximus. When they had, Eugene placed his pregnant wife upon the stallion, and walked alongside Max, leading him on a slow trot as they began their trek back to the castle. Every day was precious, what with Rapunzel becoming monthly pregnant by each week. This was just crazy!

"Blondie, how'd you get here, without a horse or a boat?"

"Eugene, I'm not stupid!" Rapunzel retorted, falling forward a bit on Maximus. "I had a man row me here, but, he didn't want to stay." She had no inclination to worry her husband with the reason the man hadn't wanted to stay, so she kept her mouth shut, until… "Eugene, can we, please, stop?"

"We need to get back to Corona," came Prince Fitzherbert's curt reply, as he glanced back to his bride.

"But, I'm _so_ exhausted!" Rapunzel whined, without knowing it.

"Okay, I suppose a quick nap wouldn't hurt," the prince consort gently helped Rapunzel down from Maximus.

"Thank you," she breathed into his vest, and took in the sweet scent that was him.

"Remember: quick!" Her husband warned, as he searched for Rapunzel who was already off to sleep.

She mumbled a quiet, "Mm-hm", as she drifted off into dreamland. Eugene was confused; _he_ was doing all the walking and, yet, she panted for breath as though she'd run a hundred mile marathon. Little did they know that the unborn child inside the princess was draining all of her life away. She needed medical attention and fast; she was dying, like her _real_ mother before her.

Eugene lay down beside her, going over and over in his mind the predicament before him. The former Flynn Rider knew exactly what she needed; healing. So he carefully brought the flower close to her sleeping form, and sang the incantation. Afterwards, the brunette beauty began breathing a little more easily, but the child inside her womb had already devoured the young woman's heart rate.

The young man perched cautiously over her tiny, fragile body, and bent downwards to hear her heart, and what he heard amazed him. Her heart rate had dropped significantly, to where it only beat the amount of times a tortoise, or a snail, moved a minute. He was losing her and the only thing he could do was watch… until an idea struck Prince Fitzherbert like lightning. Eugene took the flower and, after gathering some water and lighting a fire, placed the flower in a fireproof bowl filled with liquid above the flames. Slowly, the water turned into magical broth, and he was compelled to force feed Rapunzel the fluid. Once it was in her mouth, the prince consort massaged her throat causing her to swallow. This took a matter of more than four agonizing weeks, which according to the dragon, had been four months! The ex-thief's wife was nearly eight-months pregnant!

"Come on, Rapunzel," Eugene urged his bride. "Don't you dare die on me."

Prince Fitzherbert heard a gasp for breath, followed by coughs, come from his princess's form. It had taken a few minutes, but to the prince consort it seemed like an eternity.

"Eugene, where am I? How long have I been out?" Rapunzel wondered aloud.

"You're right where we were when we decided to nap and you've been out for four weeks. We _need_ to get a move on." Stressing the word need in a desperate tone, he whistled, and out came Max from grazing in the dewy grass a few feet away. It was then, that Rapunzel, found the flower missing.

"Uh, Eugene," he didn't like the way she phrased her words. "Where's the flower?"

"Um, well, I, uh," Prince Fitzherbert stammered and the lovely princess developed a scowl on her face. "I needed to use its magical properties to save you."

The brunette gasped, "But, we can't go home without one."

"We'll have to. We can come back after the baby's born."

She turned her back on him. "No, Eugene." She put her foot down… literally, and then twirled back around on her heel to face him. "That flower is the only link to curing the people of Corona. I'm not going to use our daughter to cure others. I don't even want the kingdom to know of her abilities! Therefore, I'm not leaving without a flower!"

"It's over six hours to reach the rest of those flowers and I don't want you going by yourself! I almost fell off the cliff pulling the other one up, plus you need the roots and everything for it to survive. And besides, now is not the time! The sun's coming up over the horizon and then you'll be nine months pregnant and I don't want to be the one to deliver our baby!"

The argument had gone on for two days.

Rapunzel gasped sharply as a gush of warm water descended between her legs. "Eugene, I really don't think you have much of a choice." She felt behind her for anything to brace onto, but all she felt was air.

"What do you mean 'I don't have much of a choice?'?"She flailed forward, onto Eugene's vest and into his arms. "Blondie, you okay?"

"No, Eugene." She took in some rapid breaths. "My water just broke. We're having a baby… now, whether you like it or not." The prince consort's face went white as an ashen color. Rapunzel got down to the ground and found a boulder which she propped herself up against. The princess had been in labor for nearly seven minutes, and was growing sweatier and more uncomfortable by the millisecond, while her husband paced. She suddenly screamed out of pain and grabbed Eugene by the shirt. "Eugene Fitzherbert, you'd better get over your pacing and get down there," she threw him down towards her legs, "and tell me when to push."

"How should I know?"

"When the cervix is completely dilated." _Whoosh!_ Her words had just gone over his head, leaving his face blank, and she rolled her eyes. "You see a hole?"

Eugene lifted her dress up, and was immediately uncomfortable. "Uh-huh." Was his simple reply.

"When that opens up, it means I'm dilating." She screamed again, trying to find something to hold onto, but only came up with a mound of dirt in her hands. The princess resumed to breathing, in through her nose and out through her mouth. "But, it needs to be fully dilated for me to start pushing."

"How will I know when it's time?"

"That's where the baby's head will come out. It needs to be big enough for the head. When you see it, it means 'the head is crowning.'"

Eugene swore, and turned away from Rapunzel. "I need a drink."

"I do, too. Can you get me some water? I saw a stream not too far back,"

Eugene looked at his wife incredulously. "No, Rapunzel, I meant some whiskey."

"But you don't drink alcohol. AAARRGGHH!" Rapunzel shrieked.

"Okay, okay, okay, you can do this, Fitzherbert." Memories floated back to him when his mother almost gave birth to a girl. "Rapunzel, breathe like this: who, who, hee."

The princess did as her husband instructed.

"Okay. Okay, I see the head. Is it crowning?" Rapunzel simply nodded with hot beads of sweat pouring down her face. "Time to push?" Another nod came from his wife. "On the count of three, push with all your might. Ready? Three, push!"

"Aaahhhhh! I'm going to kill you, Eugene!"

"Fine. Kill me." He replied monotonously. "Now, push!"

Rapunzel screamed in anguish. "NEVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, FITZHERBERT!"

Eugene was concentrating on the task at hand. "Okay, one more big push ought to do it. C'mon Rapunzel! Big push!"

"I can't, Eugene! I… just… can't." She panted heavily.

"Yes, you can! You must! Come on, _big push_!" He coached her on.

Seven seconds, and one final big push, later, Rapunzel was presented with her son: Oliver Eugene Fitzherbert. The young man cut his son's umbilical cord with a razor sharp knife, leaving the placenta on the ground for wild animals to consume.

The prince consort sat with his arm around Rapunzel, admiring the beauty of his son. "He has your eyes, Rapunzel."

"But he has your hair."

"Oliver has your beautiful smile." It was the first time the royal couple's son's name was used. "Do you think he'll like using 'the smolder?'?"

Rapunzel giggled, "But of course he will, after all, he is your son."

"Our son," corrected Eugene.

"Yes, _our_ son," the brunette princess sighed, contentedly, as she placed her head on her husband's chest, just after she touched her lips to his.

"Does this mean you're _not_ going to kill me?" It was a fair and honest question.

"No, Eugene, I'm not going to kill you." Rapunzel honestly answered, with the tiny babe in her arms, suckling, hungrily, at her breast.

"Can I still touch you?"

"Eugene, you do understand that all that talk was the pain, right?"

Eugene just shrugged, completely unaware of what to say.

"Well, it was," she added in her most hunny-bunny talk the young woman could muster at the time. "And I love you very, very much! Don't ever forget that, Eugene." The princess replied defensively.

"Good, 'cause it's gonna be awfully hard to keep my mitts off of you! By the time we're through we're going to need a whole slew of nannies."

"Oh, speaking of that. Remember getting Annaliese a nanny?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I checked them out and I think I found the perfect one. Ms. Katherine McCormick."

**A/N - Dun, Dun, Dun!**

**Please r****emember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, **_**REVIEW, REVIEW!**_** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	23. Again with Nevaeh

**Here's where YOU can take part in the story!**

**A fan art challenge:**

**After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these, which has been zero so far, but there's still time! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me! Shannon, please, I'd like you to try to attempt this!**

**A/N - I apologize if it sounds like I'm copying off anyone. I assure you, it is purely coincidental!**

She slept for a good fourteen minutes, as said by the large lizard had been fourteen hours, until she heard the wailing of Oliver. Rapunzel wasn't used to getting so much sleep, what with Annaliese and all. The princess found a hungry, ravenous and voracious Oliver Eugene, but no husband in sight. "He must be off finding another flower," the brunette spoke up, carefully lifting the blaring baby to her breast.

Suddenly, she succumbed to an agonizing ache in her abdomen and fell to her hands and knees on the soft grass. The princess had tossed Oliver aside on the blanket. The brunette noticed the same symptoms of labor. Why was this happening? She'd already had Oliver, so why did she feel like contractions had completely overtaken her body again?

Rapunzel, slowly, moved around and located the same solid stone slab that the princess used when birthing Oliver. The brunette braced herself against that rock and waited for the unthinkable to happen. When she was positive that it was, indeed, labor, she began breathing in the manner in which Eugene had taught her; throughout each and every contraction. This eased the pain, though not entirely.

If only she had a mirror. If only…

"A mirror!" She yelped in excitement, realizing that Eugene had cut Oliver's umbilical cord with something that looked like a broken shard from a mirror. If she could find that, she'd be in business.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Oh, Peter," the queen wrung her hands, as she paced the tile, castle floors, "where could she be? She promised us that she wouldn't be gone over a month! She's been gone far longer. Almost seven months! The baby has surely come by now. Who knows if she, or Eugene, knew how to deliver it! Our daughter," she sauntered up to where her husband sat reading a book, and glared into his eyes, knocking the book out of Peter's hands and onto the ground, "could be dead, for all we know, on Drakko isle."

Peter slowly rose to his feet and fetched the book. "She's not dead, Elizabeth." He sat back down in his cozy chair before resuming reading and assured his wife with, "Rapunzel knows how to take care of herself. You'll see. Now, try distracting these thoughts by indulging in a good book or by being with Annaliese for a while."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel had finally found the razor sharp piece of mirror and positioned it beneath her skirt to see what was going on.

"Doing this… while standing… up is… going to… be challenging." She breathed every few milliseconds. The princess was wrong; It was going to be nearly impossible! The brunette had sent Maximus to find Eugene and bring him back, unbeknownst to her was that her husband was already on his way to her. "Eugene!" she screamed, hoping her voice would resonate off the trees and shrubbery surrounding her and Oliver. The urge to push came over her, but looking into the mirror, the young woman could not see the head, much to her dismay.

"Rapunzel, I'm coming! Keep shouting my name!" his voice seemed very far away yet.

"EUGENE!" he was coming closer inch by inch. Finally the princess looked down into the mirror and saw what seemed to be a long mess of bloody, golden hair. It was time to push; husband or no husband. She could make out a shadowy figure emerging from the trees; Eugene! She, slowly, sank to the stone slab as Eugene came into view. "Eugene, what… took you… so long?"

The former thief placed the new flower to his side, next to Rapunzel's legs as he took his position. "Sorry, Blondie, but, right now, you've got bigger problems to worry about. So start pushing!"

"NEVER, AND I MEAN NEVER, TOUCH ME AGAIN, FITZHERBERT!"

"Fine." He said in a monotone voice, careful to note when his wife should push. Now seemed a good a time as any, so he instructed Rapunzel to, "push!"

Rapunzel screamed in distress. "Aaahhhhh! I'm going to kill you, Eugene!"

Eugene just chalked all of her talk up to the pain. "Okay, one more, big push, and I mean one, ought to do it. Big push!"

The princess took a deep breath and held it, only releasing it with her final, humungous push. The brunette screamed as she released her breath, almost breaking Eugene's ear drums. Then there was a tiny wail, so unlike Rapunzel's. Eugene Fitzherbert was holding his blood covered daughter in his arms.

"I'm going to go clean her up." He said as he got to his feet

"Where?" Rapunzel wondered aloud.

"In that stream you saw 'not too far back'."

"Be careful and please hurry, I want to hold Nevaeh." Eugene turned around with their daughter in his arm.

"Nevaeh?" Eugene prodded with questioning eyes, a grin playing at his lips, and one eyebrow arched. He sat back down next to Rapunzel, his arm crooked on his bent knee.

"Mmm-hm. Its heaven spelled backwards."

"Heaven spelled backwards." Eugene recited with her.

"How did you know that?"

"Because it – it was my mother's name."

Rapunzel froze for a minute. "You don't mind using it?" it was a statement rather than a question.

"Not at all! It'll keep her memory alive."

"Good, because I think it suits her."

"That it does, Blondie." The prince consort brought Rapunzel's head down, so that he could kiss her forehead. Then leaning his forehead against hers, cupped the back of her head and added, "That it does."

Rapunzel leaned her head down on her husband's shoulder, sobbing softly. This caused Eugene to pull away and cup her chin up, so that their eyes met – green to hazel.

"Did I do or say something wrong?" He asked as he wiped some tears from under his princess's red and baggy eyes.

"No, Eugene," the young woman took Prince Fitzherbert's hand and, lovingly, kissed it. "I'm just tired and so happy." Eugene stood up and proceeded to pick her up, like he was carrying Rapunzel over the threshold again. She leaned her head against his muscular chest, put her arms around his neck, and slowly her lashes drooped closed and Rapunzel fell into a deep sleep, snoring ever so softly.

The ex-thief brought the sleeping princess to a patch of extra soft grass, and laid her head there, getting the blankets and Oliver, placing the blankets over Rapunzel, Oliver and Nevaeh in between them, as he lay down next to his wife and son and daughter. Cleansing Nevaeh would have to wait.

"'Night, Blondie," Eugene said as he wiped some stray hairs out of her face and put his arms around her middle. "I love you," he murmured, as drowsiness overtook him; he yawned, and then fell asleep.

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, _REVIEW, __REVIEW!_ That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters! In case you're wondering,  
>I pronounce Neveah like this: Na-veigh-uh.<strong>


	24. Impatience and Rescue

**Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me AND this story. I've been in a rut, so hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**Here's where YOU can take part in the story!**

**A fan art challenge:**

**After reading the story, draw your favorite scenes, since my drawing ability is basically null, due to my disease. Thanks to the output of people interested in drawing these, which has been zero so far, but there's still time! :) PM the link to your drawings, etc, to me! Shannon, please, I'd like you to try to attempt this!**

**A/N - I apologize if it sounds like I'm copying off anyone. I assure you, it is purely coincidental!**

Her footsteps could be heard within the tavern. The Snuggly Duckling was occupied by an older woman, none other than Katherine McCormick. She was pacing outside the pub, pondering question after question concerning the royal nanny position. "Is it filled? No, they'd put up an edict if it were. Have they even considered me? The princess certainly liked my resume. But that doesn't mean _I'll_ get picked for the job. Oh, come on! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"

"Here's you ale, Kat." a gruff voice came from behind her. It was HookHand. He brought a pint of frothy beverage out to her.

_Kat_. It had been a long time since Katherine had heard her old nickname used. She was no stranger to The Snuggly Duckling, though. That was for certain.

HookHand draped an arm around Ms. McCormick's shoulders, gently, yet, forcefully coercing her inside. He sat her down at the bar. She slumped her head onto her open palm. "Why so glum, eh, Kat?"

Here was her opportunity to spill everything to her friend and she took it, sighing, "I applied for the royal nanny job-"

"That's fantastic! Blondie and Rider or Fitzherbert could use someone like you." HookHand smacked the bar with a mug he'd been cleaning.

"The thing is, I'm not just doing it for the job. I know about Annaliese's secret – her magical, blonde hair – and I found a journal this old woman by the name of Gothel left behind and it explains, in detail, how she used Rapunzel's long blonde hair to keep her ageless! That's why I really applied."

HookHand glared at Katherine, his eyes small slits. "No one, but no one, is going to mistreat Blondie and Fitzherbert's kid. Do I make myself clear?" He pulled her up by the collar to be face to face with the thug.

Katherine gulped, "perfectly, but that won't stop me." She added the last part, under her breath, on her way out as soon as HookHand put her down.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Princess Rapunzel!" Eugene's ears perked up, but he just dismissed it as if his ears were playing tricks on him. Then, the voice sounded again, surprising him.

"Prince Fitzherbert!" _Why should I refer to that thief, no matter how reformed his is, as a Prince? It's disgraceful, that's what it is._ The captain of the guard grimaced and thought to himself with every shout of the ex-con's royal title.

Eugene, slowly, got to his feet after, gently, touching Rapunzel's lips with his fingers. "Princess Rapunzel!" a call rang out, followed by, "Prince Fitzherbert!"

The prince consort began, wildly, waving his arms above his head, in a huge X motion, to get the guards' attention.

As soon as the sentinels saw the ex-con's signal, they bounded up the grasslands to the encampment of the prince consort and the princess and the royal couples' two, sleeping, children.

"Fitzherbert, what did you do?" The captain cried.

"What do you mean?"

"The princess was pregnant, a year ago, I might add, when she left to go find you, and now she's not, so what happened? Did she miscarry or-" he was cut off by Eugene.

"No," he chuckled a bit before adding, "She delivered twins!"

"Twins are a rarity in Corona." Commented the lieutenant.

"Well, apparently, not on Drakko Isle." Eugene Fitzherbert countered. "Besides, she's fine – tired – but fine"

"Eu-Eugene? What's going on?" A sleepy Rapunzel asked, but before Eugene could answer her, the whole platoon of sentries engulfed her, shooting her questions, as well as concerns, in all directions.

"Princess!"

"Are you alright?"

"May we be of some assistance?"

"No, no, thank you," she stumbled a bit before finding her footing and the guards' were instantly at her side trying to keep their princess steady. "I'm fine, really. Where is my husband?"

"We were given specific instructions to escort you and Mr. Fitzherbert back with us to Corona."

"Finally," she brushed the forest debris off her skirt before finishing, "home." She twirled around four times on her left foot, coming to an abrupt halt and thinking to herself, _Wow! All those years of ballet really _did_ pay off! _"Eugene! We're going home!" She called loudly into the glen.

"I know," said a seated figure on a dead tree stump directly behind her. Rapunzel jumped and turned around.

"Y – you heard e – e – everything I was saying?" Her eyes were wide as she stammered through her question.

"Yeah, Blondie," he took her hands in his, "We're going home. Was I that bad of company to you?" The prince consort asked, a little hurt shown in his amber eyes.

"Oh, no, Eugene! No! It was just a lot of work and _a lot_ of pain."

Hearing the emphasis on a lot attached to the word pain, tore at the ex-thief's heart. With Oliver in arm, he clutched at his heart grimacing. Raking a hand through the back of his head, he added, "I'm sorry, Rapunzel. Really I am. If there were any way to take the pain away, I would have done so in a heartbeat."

"I know I know you would have, Eugene, but the fact of the matter is that there was no _way_ for you to have taken it away." The brunette stopped her trek down the valley's side, to where the boats were that the guards arrived in, planted a gentle kiss on the prince consort's lips, and continued with, "Besides, _you_ made the pain more bearable by teaching me the correct way to breathe."

This gave the former Flynn Rider a spring in his step. "Thanks, Blondie… I think."

He mumbled the last part to himself as the captain and lieutenant stepped into one boat, followed by Rapunzel and himself, and the other guards climbed into the boat Eugene used to get there, following suit by picking up the oars and beginning to row towards Corona.

In the middle of the vast ocean, the princess spoke up, with a question that the prince consort had never considered. "Eugene?"

"Yeah, Blondie?"

"When did you fall in love with me?"

"I guess it was… um…it was when you… no, I think it was the night that you told me, and I quote, 'Hey. For the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much better than Flynn Rider.'" He answered in a high-pitched voice.

Rapunzel giggled. "And then you said, and _I_ quote," she lowered her voice as far as it would go, after nudging his arm with her elbow, "'Well, then, you'd be the first… but, thank you.'"

Finally, they could see land and knew that their journey was almost over. After looking over the boat, the brunette exhaled, turned around, sank into their lowly vessel and continued on with their story: "Then you walked off into the forest looking for firewood when Moth-"

"Whoa – whoa – whoa, back the milk wagon up! _Gothel_! Are you telling me that _Gothel_ found you?"

Rapunzel nodded her head. "And gave me your satchel with my crown in it. That's how I held it up to you on the boat during the lantern festival. I was too afraid that Mo – Gothel was right; that you'd run off with it if I gave it to you too early."

"But I didn't."

"But I thought you had an-"

Eugene reached through the darkness, took hold of the princess's, quivering outlined chin, and tilted it upwards. "I didn't." He said softly, yet, sternly, as if to get his point across. "When did you fall in love with me, Blondie?"

"Oh, the day you climbed my tower; I hit you upside the head with my frying pan and discovered that you didn't have any fangs."

"Fan – now why would I have fangs?"

"Gothel used to tell me _all_ about the men with pointy teeth and I was afraid that you were one of them."

"Oh? And was I a man with pointy tee –" the boat was oared onto dry land and Eugene lost his balance, falling over, his head where his feet should have been and his rump in the air.

"Land ho!" Cried the captain.

"You, ugh, you could've given us a – a little more warning, y'know?" Prince Fitzherbert struggled to his feet, grunting all the way.

"Sorry," came the captain's curt reply.

"Princess!" A call rang out in the night in Rapunzel's direction.

She turned her head to see who was coming. It was one of the lower guards, who thought himself better than he, actually, was, and was called Florentino. He plucked at his sleeves and walked slowly, with his nose in the air as if to catch the whiff of pie, cooling, on a sill. Florentino bent downwards to pull the princess from the boat.

"You are to appear before the king and queen," Eugene started to follow his wife, when a hand shot out in front of him, "Privately." Florentino sneered at the prince consort.

Rapunzel looked back and called for Eugene, who assured her that he'd be right behind her. When she was out of eye sight and, apparently, ear shot, Florentino noticed the lieutenant's, who were on either side of Prince Fitzherbert, and said, "The king and queen are very displeased that you kept their daughter away for so long."

"They have no _inkling_ why _we_ were away that long," Eugene spit on the ground. "And neither do _you_, Florentino."

"My, my," Florentino hissed, "that _almost_ sounded like a threat… from a man whose _life_ is on the line. Do with him what you wish." And Florentino dismissed the captain and lieutenants.

"What?! Wait! No! Rapunzel! Wait!" His screams filled the night air as the two lieutenants dragged their captor off.

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, _REVIEW, __REVIEW!_ That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	25. Accusations and Visitation

**I am so sorry for keeping everyone in suspense and waiting, but my laptop was deeply infected with viruses and my Dad just recently took it in to get it repaired.**

**As always, keep in mind the fan art challenge! Shannon, I'd like you to work on this, too, in your spare time. Maybe next week! Just pick a favorite scene, put your imagination to work, and draw! Please PM the links to your drawings to me. Something all you artists out there can do for me. Here's a big thank you in advance!**

**Again, I really am sorry, but enough rambling... on with the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, besides this story, a Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel costume, and a plush Pascal!**

"Rapunzel, I – we have been extremely worried about you. You said that you'd be back within the month and it's been nearly a year! What do you have to say for yourself?" Queen Elizabeth gasped for air after her wrath.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but ti–"

"No but's!" she slammed her fist down on her throne she was sitting in.

"Elizabeth, give the girl a chance to explain herself. Go on, dear." He extended his wrist towards their daughter to continue.

"Thank you, Daddy. Mom, time passes differently on Drakko Isle."

"Oh? How so?" the queen raised her voice in pitch, two octaves.

"Well," she, then, lowered her voice to that of a hush, "how did that dragon put it?" then, after tapping her fingertips on her lips, raised her voice back up, "Oh! 'What appears to be weeks, in reality, are months; the same with seconds, minutes, and days. Days are to weeks as hours are to days and minutes are to hours as seconds are to minutes.'" The princess recited the words of the large lizard. "Besides, Eugene was there to help me and he did an excellent job, if you ask me. Otherwise, I don't know _how_ I would have delivered Oliver and Nevaeh." She spread her arms out in a wide 'X'. "Mom, I am _so_ sorry that I caused you pain."

"Pai-? When did you ever cause me pain?"

"When you gave birth to me," was her simple answer, then Rapunzel continued, "I understand now, what with Annaliese, Oliver and Nevaeh but… I would never trade them for anything! Now, where could Eugene be?" The princess peered around the hallway, handing the twins to a servant. "Take good care of them for me while I'm away."

"Yes, Your Highness." The servant bowed as he took the children in his arms.

"Darling, we –" the king arched an eyebrow and gave her a look, that said, 'Tell her the truth,' across from his chess table. "I need to have a word with you concerning Eugene,"

"What about him?"

"Well, dear, I've had your marriage divvelled." Was how her answer had come out.

Only, now, could Rapunzel truly understand why her mumbling had gotten on Gothel's nerves.

"What are you trying to say, and, please, don't mumble."

The queen sighed, and then blurted out, in an angry heap, "Dispelled! Dismissed! Erased! Obliterated! That's what your marriage to that man has become."

Rapunzel shrunk back away from her mother. How could she have done this, when she _knew_ how much Eugene meant to her? "What!?" The princess gasped.

"Sweetheart, put yourself in my shoes. That man…"

"Eugene. He has a name, you know." The brunette replied curtly, crossing her arms, and averting her mother's gaze, sitting in a plush chair.

"Yes," the queen cleared her throat, "well, Eugene kept you on that strange island far too long and-"

It was then that Rapunzel interrupted, getting out of her seat, and, inching closer to Elizabeth until she was directly in front of her visage.

"_He_ didn't keep me there. _I_ refused to _leave_ without a magical flower!" She spat in her mother's face.

"Oh, no. You couldn't have done tha—"

"But, I _did_ do it, mom." The princess corrected her mother

Elizabeth sighed, with great dismay. "I'm so sorry, but the dismissal of your marriage is final… by law. I'd like you to meet a young lord, by the name of Corteus, from a kingdom across the sea called Grates. He is very noble, good with children, and a wonderful possibility to a new son-in-law, plus I believe-"

"Eugene is all those things rolled up into one person and I don't _want_ things to change, especially when it comes to concerning some _lord_! Revoke that law divorcing us and Eugene and I can continue our happily ever after! _That's what I want!_" Rapunzel, outraged, threw her arms up into the air.

"It _can't_ be undone, Rapunzel; not even by your father." Queen Elizabeth grasped her daughter's limbs with her own free hands. "The only thing you two can do to undo this mess, is to be married again!" Elizabeth tried to calm the flowing tears of the brunette princess

"Then that's what we'll do then," Rapunzel sniffed, drying her eyes. "Where is Eugene?"

Reluctantly, the queen gave her answer. "Right about now, the guards _should_ be putting him in one of the dungeon's cells."

"The dungeon? Why? Why must he be put in there?"

"Rapunzel, I didn't want that man near you again. After all, I had thought that _he_ was the reason you stayed away." She clung to her daughter's face.

"But, you were wrong! If Eugene has to stay in there because of _me_, and then… put _me_ in his place!" She practically screamed at her mother.

"No, Rapunzel, no. I lost you for eighteen years; I can't bear to lose you for anymore length of time. I'll release Eugene Fitzherbert first thing in the morning."

"Mom, I want you to make an announcement. Tell the kingdom that I've made up my mind concerning the royal nanny position. It is going to Katherine McCormick. I'm going to stay with Eugene. We have some things to talk about." The princess called over her shoulder as she tore away for the prison, the queen trying to stop her.

Rapunzel ran the length of stairs to the castle chamber, came to a large, wooden, vaulted door with a small window that had bars going vertically through it. _Just like any old dungeon._ The brunette thought to herself. She came eye to eye with that very same window just in time to see the captain deliver a blow to the stomach of some poor prisoner. As soon as the captain's fist came in contact of the criminal's abdomen, her eyes squeezed shut on instinct. She heard that very inmate wheeze and draw in raspy breaths, after falling to his knees, trying to regain his lung functions. She cleared her throat at the door, trying to alert someone of her presence.

"Who goes there?" A snarl from inside the dungeon said. Seeing the princess through the bars of the window, he opened the door and stood at attention.

"Thank you. Where are you keeping Eugene Fitzherbert?"

"Cell 1298, princess."

"Would you be so kind as to escort me there?"

"Right away, Princess!" His voice trembled as he spoke.

He took the brunette's right arm in his left, hoping to be a gentleman, and they started striding down the hallway until they came to Eugene's cell. He was in the stocks, head and hands pulled through the wooden beam poised upon his shoulders, a trickle of blood running from the left side of his lips.

Rapunzel gasped. "Open this door, _**now!**_" She commanded, with more gumption than she knew she had.

The guard started to protest, but seeing the seriousness on the young woman's face, knew he had better do what she said.

The princess flung the cell door open, as soon as it was unlocked, ran and knelt down at her husband's side, cradling his face. "Eugene!" she cried. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Please, Rapunzel, don't look at me." He turned his face away from her delicate touch, wincing and grimacing. But it was too late. The full moon had drifted its light in through the prison bars. Prince Fitzherbert had more than one cut on his face, his right eye was swollen shut, and his ribs were cracked in several places. She gently, yet firmly, placed a cool hand against his retreating warm cheek and pulled him back. He saw the genuine look of horror in her huge emerald orbs, which caused him to explain. "Some of the guards roughed me up. No big deal." The former Flynn Rider shrugged, causing a massive pain to tear through his abdomen.

"No big deal!? Eugene…"

"Blondie, don't make this worse for yourself."

"Eugene, I know you don't like to talk about your past… but we _must_! Who was your father?"

Eugene hesitated. "A man by the name of Lord Richard Herbert."

Rapunzel looked down to the floor. "Then that means…" her head snapped up. "You're a lord, too!"

Eugene turned towards his wife. "Oh no, Blondie, no. I'm not going through all that again! I don't want to be a lord, besides my father had far too many women 'friends'. If you found all of his illegitimate children, who knows how many lords and ladies we'd have!"

"True, but _you_ are the only lord I love, which might save our marriage."

"What are you talking about?"

Rapunzel drew in a deep breath. "My mom had us divorced because she thought that _you _had kept me on Drakko Isle, but I set her straight."

"Divorced?" Eugene shrunk back. "Isn't that a little extreme, even for her?"

"Yes, I know, but there's nothing we can do about it," the brunette said in defeat. "But she did say we could get married again, that's the only solution."

The prince consort slowly raised his head. "Remarry?" He replied. "The only way that's going to happen is if I can get out of here."

"Mom said she would release you tomorrow morning," she hugged her husband around the middle, causing the ex-thief to cringe.

"That's great, just great. Okay, you can let go now," Eugene winced.

The princess noticed his pained expression and immediately released the grip she had on him. "Oops, sorry. Can we get him out of this, please?" She asked the guard standing at the gate's entrance, who immediately, upon request, unlocked the stocks that held the prisoner.

"Much…" Eugene stretched as the instrument of punishment came off and regretted it, "better. That hurt more than I thought it would. Blondie, d'you realize that your hair is more blonde than brown? You've got cute, little, golden highlights."

"Golden highlights?!" She tugged at the end of her hair. "Eugene do you know what this means?!" The princess whispered, excitedly.

"No, but I'm betting it has something to do with the magical flower you ingested."

"I don't know, but maybe," Rapunzel said quietly. "It means I can heal you right now, instead of getting Annaliese!"

"Well, duh, but..."

She leaned into Eugene, upon the hay that was scattered throughout the prince consort's cell. Rapunzel started singing the incantation, the highlights glowing ever so softly. It was working. Soon Eugene's eye was no longer black and blue and puffy, the trickle of blood vanished, his lip scarred over. Lastly, the princess gently placed her head on Eugene's abdomen, which earned her several winces, as well as some 'Ow's' from the ex-con.

"Quit whining, you big baby!" She playfully slapped him across the arm, which made the prince consort whine all the more!

"But, it's painful!"

"Oh? And you think birthing two babies isn't?" After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Rapunzel, sitting silently back on her legs, her arms crossed below her downturned head, thinking of the births. The princess winced. "Oh, Eugene," she said softly, as she embraced him in a romantic hug, "I never meant that I would have wished for them not to have existed. On the contrary, I love Oliver and Nevaeh very much and wouldn't trade them for the world! Never think I would."

"I know, Blondie. I know." The princess smiled up at him.

"Thank you, Eugene. Now," she searched the hay for a place to settle in for the night, "I'm staying with you until morning, so I need to find a place to sleep." Finally, she settled down upon a bunch of soft straw in one cell corner.

Eugene began to walk towards her, his hands outstretched, "Blondie, you really don't have to do that. In fact, I'd prefer if you went inside to our room and got a good night's rest."

Rapunzel lifted her head from the hay, "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but you are my husband, despite what my mom decreed, and I belong with you."

"Well, then," Eugene started for the mound of hay that Rapunzel was on, "let's cuddle and not think about the 's' word tonight, okay?"

"'S' word?" The princess looked confused, as the ex-con came and snuggled up against her body, "What 's' word?"

"You know," the prince consort kissed her shoulder where her sleeve had come off, "making love."

"Eugene, we're both adults here. You can say sex."

"Okay, let's not think about sex tonight. Just you and me. Together."

"I like the sound of that," she reached up and kissed Eugene's lips, releasing them with a _smack!_

Eugene rested beside his wife, wrapping his arms around Rapunzel's mid-section, as sleep overtook both prince consort and princess.

**Please review, _review,_ REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the more chapters you'll receive. And remember, the fan art challange is open to anyone and everyone!**


	26. Oh No! Smallpox?

**I am so sorry for keeping everyone in suspense and waiting, again. I'm working on another Christian fiction novel and am obsessed with the Sims 3, still, no excuse... but then you'll now know why I'm late with updates!**

**As always, keep in mind the fan art challenge! Shannon, I'd like you to work on this, too, in your spare time. Maybe next week! Just pick a favorite scene, put your imagination to work, and draw! Please PM the links to your drawings to me. Something all you artists out there can do for me. Here's a big thank you in advance!**

**Again, I really am sorry, but enough rambling... on with the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, besides this story, a Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel costume, and a plush Pascal!**

Rapunzel sat up with a jolt, sweat pouring ¬¬down her forehead. She'd had a nightmare about Eugene and placed a hand over her beating heart once awake. The princess kissed her husband on the cheek, without so much as causing him to stir, stood up and stretched. The young woman reached her hand to her hair. It was longer – almost to her waist! Oh, how she wished for a mirror now.

The queen had hastened down into the dungeon looking for her daughter, because when she checked her bed that morning, it was empty. She'd known that her child wouldn't have let Eugene Fitzherbert stay in the prisons by himself. Rapunzel would have gone down and stayed with the ex-thief, like she had said.

Once at cell 1298, the queen looked in on her daughter and Eugene. "Rapunzel," she called into the early morning light.

"Mother," the brunette replied curtly, sitting on the straw. It was the first time she had called her Mom, "Mother," and she saw the hurt in her mom's eyes.

Queen Elizabeth winced. "I guess I deserve that. Eugene's been pardoned. I just made the announcement. He's free to go and you two are free to remarry."

The young princess stood and came to the cell bars. "Mom, I have wonderful news! Eugene is a lord!"

The queen looked skeptical, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you know this?"

"He told me so last night. His father was Lord Richard Herbert, which makes him a lord, too, right?"

"Lord Richard Herbert? Yes, that does make him a lord, but I'm afraid that if we made him a lord, we'd have to make his step-siblings lords and ladies, too."

"Don't you mean, 'if he had any siblings?'. Who knows if his father had any other children?"

"Touché." Queen Elizabeth responded. "I'll look him up in our records and see what I can find out, but first," she opened the cell door, "let's get you out of there and into a nice warm bath."

"What about Eugene?" Rapunzel glided her hand toward the man in the prison.

"Let him sleep. He looks exhausted!" The queen exclaimed.

"But, wouldn't he be more comfortable in our bed? I think he would. Let me wake him and you can help me bring him up to our room." She kneeled down on the hard concrete floor and gently shook the former Flynn Rider. "Eugene? Eugene? Wake up."

"Hmm," he moaned, then turning to the face of his smiling bride, smiled himself and commented, "Morning, Blondie."

"Eugene, you're free! Come on up to our room where you can get proper rest in our bed and later on we can remarry!" Rapunzel shrieked happily grabbing the ex-con's hand, pulling him up and toward her.

"I'll come up, but you need rest, too. I can wait. Or else, I can sleep on the couch."

"I'm going to bathe before anything. I feel pretty grimy."

"You don't look it, though." Eugene said, gently rubbing a thumb down the princess's cheek.

"You're so sweet, Eugene. Thank you, but I know you're wrong."

"Well, you slept in a filthy prison, against my advice."

"What was your advice, Eugene?" The elder woman asked, staring into the ex-thief's eyes.

"I instructed Rapunzel that 'I'd prefer if she went inside to our room and got a good night's rest.'"

"Oh, well, how very thoughtful of you, Mr. Fitzherbert." The queen said as they walked up the stairs into the castle. She walked the two to their bedroom door and reminded them, "no funny business. You're still divorced and must remarry as soon as possible."

"Don't remind me. Oh, mom, did you make the announcement concerning the nanny position?"

Nodding her head 'yes' she added, "I did it earlier on this morning. I'll look up Lord Herbert and any other possible illegitimate children he may have had, and get back with you."

The former Flynn Rider took Rapunzel's arm, "Excuse us," he pulled the young woman to the side of the wall and glared in her eyes, "You told her of my father?!" His voice rose.

"Yes, I thought she needed to know. She could make you a lord an-"

"I told you, I don't want to be a lord." He reiterated his teeth clenched.

"But if that's the only way we can be together, won't you do it?" Rapunzel pleaded.

"Of course, Blondie. Of course. I want to be with you more than anything." The ex-con began rubbing Rapunzel's arms, up and down, over and over, where he'd been holding her to reassure the young woman. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me?" He looked into her closed, tear-filled-eyes.

She opened her orbs and nodding up and down waited for Eugene's lips to meet hers in an apologetic kiss.

"C'mon," he motioned to the huge oak door, "let's go in." The young man put his arm around his princess's shoulders and walked as he guided her into their room.

"Eugene, I don't understand why you don't want to be a lord!" Rapunzel threw her arms down, then brought one back up and touched her breast. "Can you please explain this to me?"

Eugene sighed. "I don't –" he paused. "I don't want –"

"I know you don't want to be a lord, Eugene, I understand that, but please tell me why."

"Because I don't want to become my father, Blondie."

The princess reached out and took the ex-thief's hand, brought it to her lips, and kissed it. "There is absolutely no way that you will become your father."

"How do you know?"

"Well, for one thing, would your father have given his only chance at survival up to save me?"

"No. He was too narcissistic to do anything like that."

"But you weren't. In one instant, you willingly gave your life in exchange for mine."

"So? I loved you and still do. Nothing will ever change that."

"Thank you, Eugene. I know that, but that's one reason why I can't fathom you not wanting to become a lord. All it is is a title."

"A royal title."

"Well, you are royal – by marriage. I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, I have to attend to Oliver and Nevaeh. They're probably starving!" She ran into the nursery, remembered there was only one crib, looked in and there were her twins – screaming loudly for milk to eat and clean diapers.

Rapunzel lifted Oliver then Nevaeh, to her breasts, Oliver to her left and Nevaeh to her right. But Oliver wouldn't nurse, so the princess decided to put him down and the young prince kept right on crying. She sat down in the rocker in the corner of the room. Nursing Nevaeh was a comforting feeling to the brunette, or the blonde, now; she kept on rubbing circles on her daughter's back to calm her down. Once the princess had nursed Nevaeh, she put her on a changing table and proceeded to change her daughter's cloth diaper. It was completely coated! Rapunzel went on to remove the cloth, wash Nevaeh's buttocks, and put a new cloth underneath her. Pulling it closed around her naval and putting a safety pin through it, she finished up with her daughter and placed her back in the crib with her crying fraternal twin. She picked up Oliver and unpinned his diaper, but to her surprise it was clean! So the young woman pinned it back together and wrapped him safely in his cashmere blue blanket.

Eugene stepped in just as the blonde bent down and picked up Oliver. His shrieking had ceased somewhat, but not quite enough. It was alarming to Eugene that his son was in such pain, but the parents could not figure out why. Rapunzel kept holding him, cradling his head as she kept shushing him.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, Eugene. I've tried nursing him and I checked his diaper, but it was clean. And he's still wailing. What am I doing wrong?"

"You're not doing anything wrong, Blondie. Do you want me to take him, while you go and make the new wedding arrangements?"

"Let me take a quick bath first and then I'll get to it. Thank you, Eugene."

Rapunzel ran to their room, pulled the huge bathtub out of the walk-in closet with great effort, and called for a servant to fill it to the brim with hot water.

"Kasey, thank you for doing this for me." Rapunzel said to the servant. It took several trips for the servant to bring many buckets full of water, heat it up, and pour it in the tub. "I really appreciate it."

Kasey's sapphire eyes lit up. "Anything for you, Your Majesty."

"Please, call me Rapunzel. Just Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel," Kasey slowly said, unsure if the princess really meant it or not. "Would you like me to try and put your hair up?"

Rapunzel looked down at her hair. It had grown at an alarmingly accelerated rate. It was down way past her ankles and trailed behind her for four-feet! "Sure. You can try. Thank you."

The girl got going on Rapunzel's hair – pinning it up on top of head, layer upon layer – until it was wrapped around her head like a turban.

"There you are your high– I mean, Rapunzel. Enjoy your bath. "

"Thank you, I will. Goodbye, Kasey. It was nice meeting you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Kasey curtsied as she shut the door behind her. The princess undressed, being careful not to unsettle her hair after all the hard work the young girl had put into it. She put her foot into the extremely large basin to test the water temperature and found it to be perfect. Rapunzel submerged her entire being, excluding her hair, in the warm liquid. She grabbed a bar of lavender soap, wiping it into a wash cloth, then, replacing the bar to its soap dish, she started to cleanse herself of all the disgusting filth that she felt was on her skin.

As she was finishing up her bath, Eugene suddenly smashed through the door.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel shrieked, pulling a towel over the bathtub where her body was exposed, soaking the cloth. "I was bathing!"

"It's not like I've never seen you naked. For crying out loud, we've made three babies together! But we've got bigger problems; Oliver just spiked a fever." Prince Fitzherbert put his hand up to his son's forehead. "He's burning up!"

"Hand him to me."

"No offense, Blondie, but I don't want our son getting wet… unless it'll cool his fever."

"This water has cooled down quite a bit. My body took in all the heat. I was just about to get out when you came in."

"So, go ahead and get out."

"Turn your back," Rapunzel instructed. "And no peeking until I tell you it's okay."

"Okay, okay." The ex-con hesitantly agreed.

The princess hurried and stepped out of the bath, took a long cloth and wiped her body dry. Then she went over to the closet, pulled the drawers open where all her dresses were located. She picked a simple light pink garment out to wear, pulled it over her head, letting the strands of hair flow down her back and spill onto the floor. Her dress came up to her neck in lace, same as the lower sleeves to her wrists.

"Are you done yet?" Prince Fitzherbert said in an exaggerated tone, front visible by the princess.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel screeched as she jumped around to face the former Flynn Rider. "I didn't tell you 'okay' yet!"

"What? My eyes are still closed. Besides, don't you think I know you well enough to know when you're dressed? Besides, I can still hear." Rapunzel's face turned a bright red at this, then pulled herself together, and took Oliver from Eugene.

"My goodness, you weren't kidding! He's on fire! I'm going to take him down to Dr. Miller's and see what's up, okay?"

"Alright, you do what you think is best for the boy." Eugene put his two-cents in, eyes still closed, arms extended, holding Oliver out to her.

"Eugene," Rapunzel, after taking her son, put her free hand up to the ex-thief's eyes and gently prodded them open a crack, "you can look, now."

"Okay, Blondie." Feeling like a fool, the former Flynn Rider opened his eyes the rest of the way.

"How about you finish the preparations for our wedding and I'll take Oliver to see Dr. Miller, okay?"

"Sure thing."

"My goodness, he's warm! And look at the rash starting on his hands."

**Please review, _review,_ REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the more chapters you'll receive. And remember, the fan art challange is open to anyone and everyone! I want to thank all of you who've put my story in your favorites!**


	27. Mission Antidote: Cowpox

**I'm sorry this is so short, but I wanted to get it out to you!**

**As always, keep in mind the fan art challenge! Shannon, I'd like you to work on this, too, in your spare time. Maybe next week! Just pick a favorite scene, put your imagination to work, and draw! Please PM the links to your drawings to me. Something all you artists out there can do for me, since my disease has made my drawing basically null. Here's a big thank you in advance!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, besides this story, a Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel costume, and a plush Pascal!**

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, may I examine him more closely?" Dr. Miller held out her arms for the young prince.

"Do you think you know what might be causing his rash?" Rapunzel asked, handing over her son to the doctor.

"Yes, I do," she carefully cradled Oliver on her knee. "Smallpox. He has all the symptoms; a high fever and rashes."

"I only see that his hands have an enormous rash."

"Take another look," Dr. Miller held out the princess's baby and Rapunzel saw that his face was red and blotchy. The doctor had pulled his legging down and the young woman saw that the rash had spread from his hands to his face on down to his legs. Rapunzel was worried for her baby boy. No wonder he'd been crying! "do you see the raised red bumps along the rash? They're called lesions and fill with fluid, which are called vesicles. He most likely has body aches, too. I can treat it, but it won't be fun for this little guy."

"He's been crying non-stop since this morning! That must be from the body aches. How did he get it?"

"Has anyone, other than yourself and Eugene, held him?"

"Yes; some of the guards when they came to find us on Drakko Isle. Why?"

"Because most likely one of the guards had it, coughed or sneezed on him, Oliver inhaled it, and the guard thought nothing of it. That is how Smallpox spreads. I think he only has respectively variola minor, which is good. If he had variola major, he could die. I'll get the antidote ready for him." Dr. Miller handed the boy back to his mother, got up from her seat, found a syringe and filled it with Cowpox.

"What is that you're putting into the syringe?"

"It's called, Cowpox – another disease, that found when administering Smallpox, cures it. It's the only known cure right now. Thank goodness you got him to me when you did."

"Will he be okay?"

"After a shot of this, he will be." While pulling some of the Cowpox into the syringe, she added, "it would be best to give Oliver the shot in a fleshy area – the buttocks."

Rapunzel carefully undid his diaper and slipped it down. "Will this be enough?"

"That will be fine. You just need to hold him still while I give the immunization."

"Alright," Rapunzel coincided, heartbreaking that her son would be in pain.

The princess held her squirmming son down and prepared herself for the scream of a lifetime. As the needle inched closer to his flesh, Rapunzel turned her head away in a grimace.

"Alright. All done." Dr. Miller was wiping her hands against the other. Oliver had done nothing more than to wail as loudly as before the injection.

"You're sure? That's it?"

"Yep."

"I wonder if one of the guards who took Eugene to the dungeon had it. He didn't show any signs of it, but that might be because he was more concerned for Oliver's health. Let me check on him, please."

"Certainly. Take Oliver with you. He'll be more comfortable in his crib."

"Thank you! Thank you again!" The princess grabbed up her son and started toward her and Eugene's room. When she opened the door with her free hand, her suspicions were confirmed. Eugene was lying in bed, groaning, and was red! Deeply red, as if sores had broken out on him, too. "Eugene! Eugene, are you okay?"

"I d-d-don't know," the man shivered, "my body aches, I feel like I have a fever and like I'm getting a rash on my face, arms, hands, feet and legs."

"Oh no! You have it, too."

"Have what?"

"Smallpox." She brushed her hair out of her face, walked out, and put Oliver, who'd quieted down, in his crib with his fraternal twin.

"Smallpox?" The ex-thief muttered, shivering again. "Where'd I get Smallpox?"

"From one of the guards who found us on Drakko Isle and took you to the dungeon. I'll go get Dr. Miller and she can help."

"Why?" He coughed twice, and Rapunzel covered her mouth to keep from getting it. "Wouldn't your hair help?"

"I doubt, for this… but, if you insist." She put her hair against Eugene as she sang her healing incantation. Her hair immediately started to glow. The prince consort started feeling relief as his aches left his body. Only the redness, vesicles, and lesions remained. "You still need to see a doctor," the princess said as Eugene stood up and fell in her arms.

"Okay, okay. I'll go to see Dr. Miller as soon as we get re-married." The prince consort began walking toward the door.

"No," Rapunzel's word stopped the ex-thief cold. "I love you and all, but Eugene, I'm not marrying you under these circumstances until you seek medical treatment."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to get it! Who knows how my body will react to the disease. I'm not taking that chance!" Rapunzel turned her back to prince consort Fitzherbert and crossed her arms in a determined way.

"Alright, Blondie, you win." Eugene came behind her and took the princess's hands in his. "I'll go see her now if we can just remarry!"

The young woman jumped up and hugged Mr. Fitzherbert, enveloping her arms around his neck, breathing happily, "thank you, Eugene. Thank you."

**Please review, **_**review,**_**REVIEW!**** The more reviews I get, the more chapters you'll receive. And remember, the fan art challenge is open to anyone and everyone! I want to thank all of you who've put my story in your favorites!**


	28. Preparations

I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get out to you! I've had a terrible case of writer's block!

As always, keep in mind the fan art challenge! Shannon, I'd like you to work on this, too, in your spare time. Maybe next week! Just pick a favorite scene, put your imagination to work, and draw! Please PM the links to your drawings to me. Something all you artists out there can do for me, since my disease has made my drawing basically null. Here's a big thank you in advance!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, besides this story, a Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel costume, and a plush Pascal!

As Eugene walked down the corridor to Dr. Miller's office, he bumped right into a woman the guards were escorting in.

"I am so sorry, miss?"

"McCormick, Katherine McCormick. I'm the nanny you wanted for princess Annaliese."

"That's right!" Eugene snapped his fingers. "Thank you for coming. My soon-to-be wife, again, will, also, be very appreciative."

"Soon-to-be, sir?"

"It's a long story. The bottom line is this: the queen had us divorced while we were still on Drakko Isle." He brought his sleeve up to his mouth as he coughed to cover it, reminding him where he was going and why. "So, if you'll excuse me, Ms. McCormick, I have a doctor to see." On his way down to the office, Eugene began feeling more and more exhausted. He hoped Dr. Miller's antidote would help. He reached the doctor's door and knocked as loudly as his body would allow him, which wasn't much.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Miranda Miller was behind some beakers when she heard a quiet knock, so she decided to investigate.

She opened her door and called out a sweet, "Yes?" but there was no one in sight. So she closed the door and wandered back inside, silently thinking, "Hmm. That was odd." As soon as she sat down before her beakers, she realized that there was a body, slumped over, next to the office door. She ran back outside to see who it was. She saw the body of Prince Fitzherbert lying in a heap, bumps all over him.

"Prince Fitzherbert! Prince Fitzherbert, please wake up!" She lit a candle and put it in its holder. Then, proceeded to pry Eugene's eyes open and peer into them, as well as try and get a pulse from his wrist. She felt one – a very faint one – but a pulse, nonetheless. By the looks of his features, he had Smallpox, too. She looked up and to her right, "Guards," she called to two burly men in Coronian uniforms, "please help me get Prince Fitzherbert onto one of my tables."

The guards looked at each other, shrugged, and got to work hoisting Eugene's body into the medical lab and onto a table. "Thank you." The guards left and pulled the lab door closed behind them. "Now, Eugene, to see what we can do for you." Eugene's face looked like he had swallowed a beehive filled with bees, who'd just unleashed their fury on his face.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel was busy preparing for the wedding. She and Eugene had decided it would be best if it was just them, her parents, and a few friends from The Snuggly Duckling. Since that was the case, the princess wanted to have it outside in the gardens. She was certain that Eugene wouldn't mind. He would wear his normal clothing and she would wear a simple white dress. She might even have someone braid her hair and put flowers in it, to reminisce her birthday with Eugene and the 'floating' lanterns.

"Just one tier to the cake this time, okay?" she reminded the caterer, as she walked by the royal kitchen. "And not too much to eat. We only have a few guests this time." Of course she'd invited HookHand, BigNose, and Attila's cupcakes were sure to be a hit. "Let's see, I'd like roses, red, of course, with babies' breath and do we have any rosemary? I'd like that, too. And maybe some small orchids. Oooh, and add some jasmine in there, as well." Rapunzel was chattering off the flowers she wanted in her bouquet to the local florist beside her. "Now, to my room for the dress fitting," she announced holding the front of her gown up while walking up the stairs to her room.

The princess stood up on the step stool and tried several extravagant gowns on before deciding on one that wasn't too simple, but was way less elegant, for her taste. Her long blonde hair was piled on top of her head, curled under and pinned in every direction with sparkling suns.

"Has anyone seen Eugene?" Everyone either mumbled a 'no' or shook their heads from side to side. "Well, I'm going to look for him." She slid the gown over her head and off her slim figure. Putting on her lavender dress, not upsetting her hair from its curl, went down to Dr. Miller's laboratory.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel knocked loudly on the door that led to Miranda Miller's office.

Dr. Miller had just drawn out a full vial of Cowpox, twice the dosage given to his son, when she heard the knocking. The doctor put down the syringe and went to answer the door.

"Oh, Princess Rapunzel! What brings you here?"

"I'm looking for Eugene. Did he come down here?"

The doctor led Rapunzel by the small of her back, while speaking, "Yes, he did. I was just about to inject him with some Cowpox, when you knocked."

Rapunzel let out a huge gasp at the sight of the ex-con, bringing her hands to fold together across her mouth. "Oh, Eugene," she walked over to where his body lay. "Well, they _do_ say 'for better or worse' for a reason." She smiled, took Eugene's hand in hers and kissed it. "After the doctor gives you your medicine, we'll marry."

Please review, review, REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the more chapters you'll receive. And remember, the fan art challenge is open to anyone and everyone! I want to thank all of you who've put my story in your favorites! It means so much to me!


	29. Lord Fitzherbert

I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get out to you! I've had a terrible case of writer's block! And I'm really sorry it's so short. I just wanted to get it out to you: the readers!

As always, keep in mind the fan art challenge! Shannon, I'd like you to work on this, too, in your spare time. Maybe next week! Just pick a favorite scene, put your imagination to work, and draw! Please PM the links to your drawings to me. Something all you artists out there can do for me, since my disease has made my drawing basically null. Here's a big thank you in advance!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, besides this story, a Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel costume, and a plush Pascal!

"Dearly beloved, we have gathered here to witness, again," he added the word, 'again', under his breath, "the union of these two people. Do you, prince consort Eugene Fitzherbert, take Princess Rapunzel, to be your lawfully wedded wife, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, till death do you part?" _Didn't I just do this?! _He cried inwardly.

Eugene could barely talk due to the reaction the Smallpox had given him, but he nodded, and with all his heart he wanted to speak, to be joined with Rapunzel again as his wife. As his face looked like thousands of tiny popped pimples; as if each were a tiny volcano that had erupted, it was a very unpleasant sight to look at him. At least his face, but Rapunzel didn't care. She loved Eugene, no matter what he looked like.

After his injection of Cowpox, Dr. Miller had given them a salve to put on his entire face and he would look better in about two weeks, as long as they continued using it every day and night.

There were two wailing infants and a toddler with Rapunzel's mom. The queen kept bouncing Oliver and Nevaeh on her knees, and Annaliese was crawling along the draped aisle. Peter almost got up to get her and take the young princess to the royal nanny who was present, but he didn't want to interrupt the clergyman.

"And do you, Princess Rapunzel, take prince consort Eugene Fitzherbert, to be you lawfully wedded husband, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in heath, forsaking all others, till death do you part?"

"I most assuredly do."

"Thank you for letting me finish this time," he leaned over and whispered to the princess, then clearing his throat, went on. "Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you, again, husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

Because of the scarring on his face it was hard to tell where her husband's nose ended and his mouth began.

_Better let him find_ my _lips_. She finally decided.

_I think she wants me to find _her_ lips_. Eugene consented; opening his eyes further until his skin felt like tearing. He looked into Rapunzel's smiling and anticipating face and reached his hand out to bring her chin in to him. He lowered his blemished lips down towards hers. The kiss was gentle, but also, forceful. Eugene never wanted to let go of her again. Finally, they had to break for air, but then stole a few small kisses afterward.

The crowd cheered, even the queen, but The Snuggly Duckling thugs were the loudest; whooping and hollering.

After the wedding, their majesties handed over the three children to Katherine McCormick – who happily took them. Their highnesses put an apron around Ms. McCormick, which had two slings – one in the back and one in the front; for Oliver and Nevaeh. That way, her hands would be free to carry Annaliese.

She, carefully, took the hand of the little blonde angel and walked hand in hand with her down the aisle, where her mother had previously walked.

"Eugene, I think it's time for a haircut; not too short, but not my normal seventy feet."

"Congrats, again, you two," came HookHand's larger than life voice, with a huge slap across the back of the former thief, causing Eugene to nearly spill the cup of punch he had just gotten.

"Attention, everyone!" The crowd quieted. "And, now," the queen approached, with her arms folded in front of her, and her voice grew softer, "my gift to my son-in-law."

"Your Majesty, you don't need to give me anything else. I've got your daughter back as my wife and that's all I need."

"Kneel, son," it was the first time the queen had called Eugene 'son', so he thought he must oblige. The former thief got down on one knee, as if proposing. Elizabeth brought out a very sharp sword from a suit of armor behind her, and Eugene began pleading for his life. "Relax, son. Eugene Fitzherbert, I hereby dub thee, lord Fitzherbert!" She placed the sword, horizontally, on both sides of his shoulders. The queen bent down to Eugene, and gently brought his chin up to meet her eyes. Then she whispered in his ear, "A royal dubbing is permanent, lord Fitzherbert. Don't say, 'you do not want it', because I can see that you really do. It's there in your eyes. Rise lord Fitzherbert."

The ex-thief rose from where he was still in a kneeling position. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"And to everyone here! Tell far and wide that our prince consort is now a lord." Elizabeth's sweet voice rang out through the garden.

The Snuggly Duckling thugs were sure to spread this news, for they, behind lord Fitzherbert, wanted this more than anyone else!

Later on that night….

Eugene was lying in bed while Rapunzel applied the ointment to his face. It felt so refreshing; he couldn't help but moan in delight!

"Oh, am I hurting you, my lord?" The princess halfway joked, chuckling after the words were said.

"No, no. Of course not, my love." Rapunzel was taken aback when he had called her 'my love'. He never called her that, but the princess liked it. He took her medicated hands in his. "It just feels so good; your soft hands touching my scarred skin."

The, still, blonde princess leaned down and kissed him longingly. Next, she was lying beside him and Rapunzel crawled up beside lord Fitzherbert, whispering in his ear: "Make love to me, Eugene."

He moved delicately, yet precisely, removing her gown, with her aid, and removed his clothes. He hadn't been entirely sure that Rapunzel wanted this, for his face was still disfigured.

But the princess hadn't shied off: instead, she kept kissing him every moment she had a chance.

They kept advancing on each other, before completely naked, which would make things very difficult. But before soon, they were both undressed and making love to each other.

**Please review, **_**review**_**, ****REVIEW****! The more reviews I get, the more chapters you'll receive. And remember, the fan art challenge is open to anyone and everyone! I want to thank all of you who've put my story in your favorites! It means so much to me!**


	30. Nursery Lullaby

**I am so very sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out to you. My computer's hard drive crashed and it took the 'Dork Force' more than half a year to work on it – and then they couldn't fix it! I had to buy a new upgraded one, which made me very upset.**

**Remember, there's still the fan art challenge that I want you all to take part in. (Shannon, this means you, too… when you get the time =)) Just pick your favorite scene in the story, and draw like you've never drawn before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled; just a Blu-Ray/DVD, soundtrack, music book, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene dolls, a plush Pascal, my very own tailored Rapunzel outfit, the junior novelization and this plot. Enjoy!**

After intercourse with Eugene, Rapunzel lay on her side next to him like a ragdoll, her chest moving with every breath she took.

Eugene, the night owl that he was, looked at her, lovingly. "Oh, Rapunzel, I love you so much!" He sighed quietly as he gently trailed the outline of her face with his index finger. "Your beauty is overwhelming! Not just your outer beauty… oh, no. You have such a beautiful inner self. Such an innocence about you. I love your little nose," he kissed the tip of her nose, "your huge eyes," he yawned, "full of excitement, your tiny fingers," the prince consort entwined his fingers with the princess's, "your sweet nature. I love every single thing about you." He managed to get out as sleep overtook him.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Eugene woke around eight o'clock in the morning, which was extremely early for him, to find he was all alone. He'd put his arms around the pillow next to him, thinking it was his wife. Mr. Fitzherbert looked everywhere the princess might be, to no avail. He put his pants on, followed by his shirt, then his vest, and finally his boots.

He started roaming the halls, cupping his hands to his mouth and calling out, "Rapunzel!" As he approached the royal nursery, he began to call again, when, another hand flew out and covered his mouth. It was Rapunzel!

The princess was wearing a simple sleeveless white dress, with a red ribbon at the top, then red buttons going halfway down the gown. She looked up, apologetically, and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh. I heard you calling, Eugene, but I couldn't come. Not yet. Listen."

They were just outside of the nursery door. "Mmffffhhhm mmffffmhhm," Eugene tried to say, but Rapunzel's hand was still over his mouth.

The princess turned and removed her hand from her husband's mouth. "Sorry," she whispered, her eyes full of regret, even though she let out a small chuckle. "Now, what were you trying to say?"

The prince consort cleared his throat, adjusted his vest, and straightened himself up before answering, "I said, I didn't hear a thing, except a sweet lullaby being sung."

"Don't listen to the melody," Rapunzel reprimanded. "Listen to the words."

As the prince consort put his ear to the nursery door, lyrics filled his heart with dread. Yes, it was the 'healing song' with a different tune.

"How in the world does Ms. McCormick know about this song?" Eugene demanded.

"Don't ask me," the princess looked bewildered. "Somehow… she just… knows."

"We need to confront her about this."

"Eugene, wait. We can't let on that we know. Not this way."

"Okay, so how do you want to deal with this?"

"I don't know! Catch her in the action, I guess."

"What? During the song, bust her? Yeah, Blondie, _that'll_ work." Eugene crossed his arms.

"No!" Her mind was whirling. "Wait a minute. _After _she comes out. Not even Gothel's looks aged enough to notice – until you cut my hair."

"Hey, you're right. We'll be sure to notice how young she looks and possibly ask her how she got that way!"

"Right." The princess slinked her arms around the new lord's neck. "Y'know, we make a pretty good team, Mr. Fitzherbert."

"Just what I was thinking, Mrs. Fitzherbert." And that's when their lips met in a passionate kiss.

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, ****_REVIEW, _****_REVIEW!_**** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	31. Dinner

**Remember, there's still the fan art challenge that I want you all to take part in. (Shannon, this means you, too… when you get the time =)) Just pick your favorite scene in the story, and draw like you've never drawn before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled; just a Blu-Ray/DVD, soundtrack, music book, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene dolls, a plush Pascal, my very own tailored Rapunzel outfit, the junior novelization and this plot. Enjoy! **

After Katherine had sung to each child and had put them down to sleep, she snuck out of the nursery, out of the careful watch of the prince consort and princess, wondering to herself, "I wonder where I'm going to sleep? What will I be served to eat?"

Katherine stopped at a mirror in the hallway. Her crow's feet were gone, as were her baggy eyes, the many wrinkles that had aged her face had vanished. Huge moles had disappeared and three liver spots had minimized by one hundred percent; her gray hair had now become a radiant red. She looked exquisite.

She couldn't help but twirl around and admire herself. Her ginger hair came down in ringlet curls to her shoulders complementing her green dress; flawless pale skin made her even more beautiful. Ms. McCormick's freckles frolicked against her face and nose, much like Rapunzel's.

Katherine heard her name being called from the huge dining room. "Dinner shall be served in five minutes time for the following; their Majesty's', prince consort and princess Rapunzel Fitzherbert, and Ms. Katherine McCormick."

Five minutes! In five minutes she would find out what she would be served to eat! Suckling pig, mutton, roast duck, fried goose, deer, a variety of splendid soups, delicious Renoir wine, the possibilities were endless! She was only used to berries, nuts, wild vegetables, occasionally course brown breads, such as wheat or oat bread, beans and porridge.

And she would be feasting with the King and Queen! How incredibly amazing that a pauper, like she, would be dining with royalty! The prince consort and princess, to boot.

But she had to be on her guard about her 'new' look. They were, surely, going to question her about her updated features. She had to think of something, someway, to have a way to cure her aged appearance. If only her own ointment held the same powers… that's it! Some new kind of lotion!

She would get an empty jar, put some of her original salve in it, add a few leaves from various trees for coloring, some sweet smelling flowers to give it an aroma that wouldn't be too vile, and ground it into the cream. Voila! Her new anti-aging lotion – all of her own making.

She'd have to wait to do it until the early morning hours, or else, do it late at night, with the prince consort and princess's permission of course.

"Dinner is served!" A voice rang out.

Katherine, hurriedly, got her wits about her, and headed down the several sets of stairs to the dining hall. Inside, was a huge table, with candelabras, vases with flowers and place settings on top of the lined tabletop.

Ms. McCormick took a seat and waited while the food was brought out to them. She was, quickly, joined by their Majesty's. Eugene and princess Rapunzel came in last, hand in hand.

The prince consort and princess had, unknowingly to everyone else, cut Rapunzel's long blonde hair to a manageable shoulder-length brown. The princess quite liked it as it wasn't as frayed as before, even though the only reason she'd left it like that was because Eugene was the one who'd done the cutting.

Their first course was a beefy soup with a variety of little vegetables floating in the brown broth.

Katherine could hardly believe her eyes. She just wanted some warm bread to dip into the stock – let the soup soak up the loaf. Heaven! Then they brought out just that; some delicious, hot dough, along with dipping water.

Everyone was staring at her. Why?

"Why is everyone staring at me? Is my hair in my soup bowl?" The nanny asked, pulling her hair aside.

"No's" erupted from all the people at the table.

"Oh, good." Katherine laughed the tension off, but all eyes were still on her. She started to take another spoonful of soup, but saw everyone's faces. "What!?"

"I'm sorry, dear, but it's just… I mean, you look so… so…" Queen Elizabeth stammered, stirring her soup.

"Go on," Ms. McCormick urged the Queen.

"So very young. Not at all like the sitter we had hired before." Eugene raised his left brow as the Queen raised her goblet full of wine and brought it to her lips, sipping the sweet nectar.

"Oh, that," Katherine laughed, to ward away all suspicion. "I have a, um, very special reverse aging cream."

"Oh, really? Well, I'd love to try it sometime."

"Mom, you really don't need –"

Eugene reached his hand over to place on top of one of hers. Rapunzel stopped speaking and looked at him, while prince consort Fitzherbert shook his head sideways, indicating that Ms. McCormick needed to confess.

"You can't!" Shouted the nanny, trying to clear away any distrust. "I mean, it was solely made for my skin and I didn't bring the whole thing here. Just enough for one night."

"But why? You were going to live here until the children became of appropriate age for a young princess or prince. And what about your hair?"

"I know that's what the papers said, but I didn't know if I could believe it. I've been lied to all my life and it's hard to gain people's trust after all that… my hair, on the other hand, I have a coloring treatment for my course, dry locks. And I wouldn't want to ruin your beautiful brunette hair."

Their main course was brought in: Fried Turkey! Two legs, two wings, a huge breast that could be split by four different people, and great big thighs! This was enough to feed an army.

Rapunzel brought a napkin up to her mouth and wiped. "Mom, Dad, may I please be excused for a few minutes?"

"Of course, dear. Come right back!" King Peter called after his daughter.

"I will!" The princess called from the stairs.

**Where is Rapunzel going? Is she _that_ afraid of Katherine McCormick? ****She shouldn't be. Her blonde hair is gone now. ****You'll just have to wait and find out! **

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	32. Storytime

**Remember, there's still the fan art challenge that I want you all to take part in. (Shannon, this means you, too… when you get the time =)) Just pick your favorite scene in the story, and draw like you've never drawn before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled; just a Blu-Ray/DVD, soundtrack, music book, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene dolls, a plush Pascal, my very own tailored Rapunzel outfit, the junior novelization and this plot. Enjoy!**

Rapunzel hurried into the children's nursery, desperate to find answers.

She went over to her eldest daughter, took her by the shoulders and gently shook Annaliese awake.

"Anna! Anna, please wake up."

"Mama?" Annaliese rubbed an eye and sat up.

"Yeah, sweetie, it's me." The princess bent over and picked her little girl up. "Oh, you've gotten so big! Can you tell me something?"

"Yes, mama," came the blonde girls' reply before she put her thumb in her mouth.

"Does Ms. McCormick sing to you?"

"Yes." Rapunzel's daughter answered, taking her thumb out of her oral cavity and placing it in her hair.

"Can you remember the words?"

"Umm… something about flowers and the Fates'. That's all I can think of. Sorry mama."

"No, don't be sorry. You did very well. I'm proud of you." This earned a smile from the small princess. "Did you happen to see if your hair glowed when she sang that song?"

Annaliese turned around and looked at her golden tresses. "I dunno. I wasn't looking."

"It's okay, sweetheart." Rapunzel turned and kissed her daughter on the forehead, realizing how much precious time she'd lost with her little girl. With _all_ of her children. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay, mama."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel flew down the stairs and into the royal library. She wasn't sure which book to read to her children, so she settled on Eugene's favorite; 'The Adventures of Flynnigan Rider'.

After removing the book, she ran back up to the daycare, got Oliver and Nevaeh out of their cribs, placed the twins on the floor, sitting up and began to read.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Eugene had excused himself from lunch shortly after Rapunzel did. He was wandering the halls, searching each room for his bride, but they were all empty. Finally, he came to the last room he'd expected to find Rapunzel in; the nursery.

The prince consort's wife was on the floor in the middle of the daycare and was reading to the children a strangely familiar book: 'The Adventures of Flynnigan Rider '.

He blushed as he heard the specific chapter being read aloud, but busted into the room before his wife could get into specific details and said, in a hushed tone, "and they lived happily ever after… just like your mom and I have."

"Yea!" The children clamored around Eugene and Rapunzel, begging for more.

Eugene asked Rapunzel, "Why did you escape up here?"

"I missed my… I mean, _our_… children," admitted the princess.

"Okay. At least you aren't going anywhere. Oh, one more thing. No more of 'The Adventures of Flynnigan Rider', okay?" Rapunzel nodded and he gently closed the door behind him.

"Mama, tell us how you and papa met!" Cried Annaliese, jumping from her sitting position.

Laughing, Rapunzel gave in. "Alright, alright! Well, it was a bright, sunny afternoon when I heard someone outside of my tower…"

"It was papa, wasn't it!?" Exclaimed the four year old.

"That's right, Anna. The person was climbing up the tower wall and then came in through my window and slammed the shutters closed. Someone was breathing heavily, probably from his exertion from scaling the tall building, and, after catching his breath, uttered three words; 'alone at last.' And that was when I banged him upside the head with…"

"A frying pan!" Declared the eldest of her children. "Who knew!?" She began laughing, knowing those were her father's words.

"Hey!" Princess Rapunzel put her hands on her hips as she got on her knees. "Who's telling this story? You or me?"

The laughter subsided, "you, mama."

"Okay, this person came in through my window…"

"You already said that part, mama,"

"I did, didn't I?" She picked up her daughter, and tickled her, until the happy squealing ceased. "I have to put your brother and sister in their cribs, okay, and I'll be right back."

Oliver and Nevaeh had fallen asleep after their insistence from their parents. Rapunzel checked their diapers before putting them to bed to be sure they would be comfortable. Then, she put them both in each crib and tucked them in, kissing their foreheads.

True to her word, the princess went back to Anna, sat down, and resumed her tale. But the toddler had started yawning, so Rapunzel softly said her story to her daughter, while rubbing her forehead.

"So, I knocked him upside the head with a frying pan and he fell to the floor with a loud _thud. _ I poked at his face, then moved his head to the side, that's when Pascal told me to check for fangs, which I did, and there weren't any, so I decided to move the hair out of his eyes and I noticed that he was very handsome. I gazed at him for what seemed like hours, but he woke up and I had to hit him on the head again with my frying pan.

I tried to stuff him in my closet several times before the doors actually stayed shut on him, but I had to nudge four fingers back inside, before placing a chair under the handles. 'Okay, okay, okay. I've got a person in my closet. I've got a person in my closet,' I kept mumbling to myself anxiously. Then, when I saw myself in the mirror, I declared triumphantly, 'I've got a person in my closet!' I chuckled to myself, 'ha, ha, too weak to handle myself out there, mother? Well, tell that to my frying pa–' I was twirling the pan in my hand and accidently hit myself in the forehead with it.

And then –." She looked down at her little girl, asleep in her arms.

Princess Rapunzel picked Anna up, pulled the blankets down from her bed, put her daughter down and covered her up. "Goodnight, sweetheart." The brunette whispered and smiled to herself; then freely skipped to her own room, where Eugene was waiting up for her, reading a book, of all things!

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, ****_REVIEW, _****_REVIEW!_**** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	33. Stories From The Past

**Thank you all for the few reviews I got. It really made my day, except for one by HovaStrider. I'm sorry it's not as well-written as you'd have liked, but I did my best to keep it on track.**

**Remember, there's still the fan art challenge that I want you all to take part in. (Shannon, this means you, too… when you get the time =)) Just pick your favorite scene in the story, and draw like you've never drawn before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled; just a Blu-Ray/DVD, soundtrack, music book, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene dolls (yes, I still like dolls), a plush Pascal, my very own tailored Rapunzel outfit, the junior novelization and this plot. Enjoy!**

"Eugene, what are you reading?"

The prince consort closed the book in his hand. "Huh? What? Oh, Rapunzel, you're back. How're the kids?"

"Well, Annaliese confirmed that Ms. McCormick sings to them containing the words flowers and the Fates', so–"

"So, we were right. She _was_ singing the song!"

"Yes, she was singing the song. Now **what** were you reading?" She started crawling on top of the bed, and him, trying to reach the book, but the ex-thief held his hand away from his wife. But once he let his guard down, Rapunzel reached for the book, grabbed it, and read aloud, "'The Adventures of Flynnigan Rider?' This is the book you were reading?"

"Reliving old memories." Eugene shrugged.

"About your past? I thought you never liked to talk about it."

"I don't. It's just, well," the prince consort sighed, "being with you and the kids… it struck a nerve."

"Tell me about it," Rapunzel prodded, patting the bed, inviting him to join her where she was sitting.

Prince Fitzherbert climbed over to where she sat on the bed, swung his legs over the edge, and began telling his story.

"I was about four or five, my mom became pregnant again by lord Richard Herbert. This time with a girl… let's just say the delivery did _not_ go well. She was in her room made special for birthing, but the baby, she… she…"

"Eugene, go on." Rapunzel encouraged her husband, while rubbing his back.

Eugene sniffed. "She was so tiny. She died coming out, and my mom died shortly after. My mom didn't even have time to deliver the after birth. My sister came out feet first, which was unusual, but she was born as if she was totally asleep. She didn't cry, didn't move. I thought babies were supposed to cry when they were born."

"They are."

"But _she_ didn't." For the first time in his adult life, there were tears in his eyes, running down his cheeks.

Rapunzel noticed the moisture in his orbs, and down his face, and wiped them away with her thumbs. "I'm so sorry, Eugene." She hugged her husband.

"Why, Rapunzel?" He hid his face in her hair. "Why did she have to die?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. Not to change the subject, but, why was I trapped in a tower for nearly eighteen years of my life?"

"But I rescued you. No one was there for her."

"You know I would have been." Rapunzel was now on her knees on the floor, holding her husband's hand against her face.

"I know, I know." The prince consort got up, wiped his face off and started pacing. "Why her and not me? I heard rumors that a lord Herbert stabbed himself in the heart with a dagger after that, but I never believed that man would've done that."

"Eugene, never ask that about yourself again."

"Ask what?"

"'Why her and not me'? I couldn't bear it if you were gone. I'd have traded my life for yours in a heartbeat, which I almost did, until you cut my hair! But, seriously, Eugene, I love you so much. I can't imagine my life without you. Is that selfish? If it is, I'm sorry, but that's just the way I feel."

"It's not selfish." He sat down next to his wife on the bed and took her tiny hand in his and kissed it. "Blondie, you are the least selfish person I know. It's one of the things I love most about you."

"It is?" Eugene nodded.

"I've known some really selfish people in my life who only thought of each other and elevated themselves above anyone and everyone – they were real idiots." He looked down in shame.

"Eugene!" Mr. Fitzherbert whipped his head around to face his princess. "You know that we don't call others names here!" Princess Rapunzel scolded.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to call them. And it's true; they were idiots."

"Were?" Rapunzel's mind was spinning with possibilities. "What do you mean 'were'?"

"They died in a fire trying to – _rescue_ – some jewels they'd hidden from the palace guards a few years back. I made it out, lacking my plunder – aware that my life was worth more than a couple pathetic gems. They'd almost come out, when a beam above the exit, blocked them and sealed their fate, the smoke choking them to death."

"I'm so glad that you had the sense to get out while you still could."

"Well, it was an easy decision; live or die. I chose to live."

"I'm so grateful that you did. Eugene, I love you more than the air I breathe. I couldn't bear it if I had never known you. You've made such a difference in my life. You gave me my dream. And you… you _are_ my new dream."

Prince consort Fitzherbert turned and took ahold of Rapunzel's hands and began singing, "and at last I see the light, and it's like the fog has lifted,"

The brunette joined in, "and at last I see the light, and it's like the sky is new."

And they both ended together in, "and it's warm and real and bright, and the sky has somehow shifted, all at once everything is different, now that I see you; now that I see you."

The princess fell asleep in her beloved's arms, shortly after the song ended. Eugene stayed seated until he was sure he could move Rapunzel to her side of the bed.

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, ****_REVIEW, _****_REVIEW!_**** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**


	34. Hair

**Remember, there's still the fan art challenge that I want you all to take part in. (Shannon, this means you, too… when you get the time =)) Just pick your favorite scene in the story, and draw like you've never drawn before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled; just a Blu-Ray/DVD, soundtrack, music book, Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene dolls (yes, I still like dolls), a plush Pascal, my very own tailored Rapunzel outfit, the junior novelization and this plot. Enjoy!**

Rapunzel woke to a bird singing in the window. She jolted up, not realizing where she was. Then, seeing her husband lying on the bed next to her gave her some relief as to where she was.

She decided to visit her children.

Princess Rapunzel had fallen asleep in her clothes, so all she needed to do was brush her hair (she still wasn't used to shoes). Once that was done, she was off to the nursery.

As she walked down the long hallway, she bumped into Katherine.

"Oh, Ms. McCormick, why aren't you in with the kids?"

"Oh, begging your pardon, but, well, may I have your permission to have the morning off?"

The brunette granted her request, "As a matter of fact, I was just going in to see them. I miss my babies so much."

"That's perfectly normal for any mother."

"Do you need any help?"

"No, not at all, your majesty. I'm perfectly capable of gathering my stuff by myself." She bowed from her waist close to the floor, making a sweeping motion with her left arm.

"Please, no formalities," she picked the nanny back up so she looked her in the eyes. "Just Rapunzel."

She slowly formed the words on her tongue and let them flow from her mouth, "Ra-pun-zel."

"There you go. Now, on your way." She instructed and bade the sitter goodbye. "Now, for my girls." Princess Rapunzel walked towards the nursery with scissors in hand.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Katherine had been busy at work, picking leaves off the trees – many which were colorful – now she needed to pick a couple berries, and several sweet-smelling flowers. Thank goodness that the princess had allowed her to take time off.

Okay, now Ms. McCormick was looking for blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.

Her next stop was to pick some roses, lilacs and hyacinths – the best smelling flowers in the kingdom.

On the other hand, it couldn't smell too sweet, or else the royal family might get suspicious. Then again, there were many ointments out there that smelled very sweet.

What was she doing? She was fighting with herself!

She placed both hands on either sides of her cranium to hold her head still while it felt like it was propelling out of control. The woman slowly lowered her arms.

Katherine moved on to the flowers as soon as she finished the berries.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rapunzel loomed over her youngest child's crib, scissors in hand. After cutting Annaliese's hair, which had become a beautiful brunette, she turned to Nevaeh, intent on cutting her hair.

Rapunzel held up a lock of her daughter's golden blonde hair, took her scissors and cut her hair – but it remained blonde. It wasn't supposed to do that! It needed to turn brown.

Needless to say, this scared the princess. Her youngest child was susceptible to another Gothel's wishes! And she didn't want that to happen. Her baby was vulnerable to being kidnapped with no hope of ever being rescued. All because her hair would not convert to brunette – like her sister's.

So, the princess did what she always did when frustrated: retreated to her room and paint.

She picked up a brush and dipped it in brown paint. Rapunzel had already painted the leaves for the tree, all that was left was its trunk and bark. The young woman carefully held her tool in her hand and gracefully stroked the brush in even strokes on the wall, not sure where to connect the branches to the leaves.

Rapunzel put the brush end to her chin as she concentrated, getting a coffee color on her skin.

Eugene just happened to walk in on this. "Y'know, Blondie, people usually paint their canvases, not their faces. If you still had your blonde hair, I bet parts of it would be brown by now!" The ex-thief laughed.

Rapunzel went over to her husband. "Eugene!" the brunette exclaimed, while clutching and shaking the prince consort's arms, "you're a genius!"

She gathered up her brown paints, ran into the nursery, filled a bathtub with color and proceeded to get Nevaeh out of her crib. Once Rapunzel had her youngest in her arms, she brought her over to the tub and gently put her hand in the paint and poured it over her daughter's blonde hair, turning it a mocha color.

But, after doing so, the ex-lost princess thought about what made Gothel kidnap _her_. She had told her that _people_ had cut her hair, which was most likely another lie. _She _had probably cut her hair, but why? She had to have cut it when she was very young, probably when she was a little baby.

_Her_ blonde hair had turned brown and lost its power. Gothel was taking some of her _blonde_ hair until it had turned brown.

After she came to this conclusion, Rapunzel took Nevaeh to her room and called a servant to bring her some fresh water.

When the water arrived, she brought Nevaeh to her sink and washed the brown out of her hair. Princess Rapunzel figured that if Ms. McCormick wanted to stay young, she could use a lock of her daughter's hair, not her daughter.

This made Rapunzel's heart soar!

**Please remember the fan art challenge and, as always, REVIEW, ****_REVIEW, _****_REVIEW!_**** That REVIEW button is your friend. The more Reviews, the more chapters!**

**After this chapter, I will abandon this story, but still leave it on In Progress, in case someone out there would like to take over.**

**I'm better at writing Zutara/Makorra/Aladdin short stories and one-shots.**


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